White House looks to rescue plan funding to ease burden of high

The White House is encouraging states to quickly distribute assistance that was included in President BidenJoe BidenFlorida Republicans vote to limit vaccine mandates Bill honoring 13 service members killed in Afghanistan heads to Biden’s desk Overnight Defense & National Security — Presented by Boeing — Pentagon vows more airstrike transparency MORE’s sweeping $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief law passed in March to lessen the burden of higher energy bills this winter.

The White House distributed a fact sheet Thursday emphasizing that the coronavirus relief law, known as the American Rescue Plan, added $4.5 billion in funding to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, that is available through September 2022. The average annual funding for the program is between $3 billion and $4 billion, according to the White House.

The Biden administration is urging state, local and tribal governments to “prepare early” to distribute the expanded assistance to more families to offset the cost of higher heating costs due to rising gas prices.

According to the fact sheet, the administration is offering technical assistance to state and local governments receiving the funds from the program in order to speed up planning to distribute the assistance ahead of the winter season.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is also encouraging grantees to expedite payments to households that have received LIHEAP funding in the past and to simplify the process through which low-income households are deemed eligible for the assistance.

As part of the effort, the White House is hosting a virtual meeting Thursday afternoon during which Energy Secretary Jennifer GranholmJennifer GranholmBiden, top officials spread out to promote infrastructure package Biden’s crude export ban could cause more pain at the pump Biden asks for probe of potential ‘illegal conduct’ on gas prices MORE, HHS Secretary Xavier BecerraXavier Becerra12 states sue to block Biden vaccine mandate on health care workers Overnight Defense & National Security — Presented by Boeing — Major Russia weapons test stokes tensions Judge rejects Sidney Powell’s challenge to Pentagon’s vaccine mandate MORE, rescue plan coordinator Gene Sperling and other top officials will discuss how to distribute the assistance with a group of governors and utility and fuel industry representatives.

Additionally, the Biden administration is calling on utilities to commit to “proactively” using their resources to ensure low-income customers are provided relief. Companies including DTE Energy, Eversource, National Grid, NorthWestern Energy and Portland General Electric have agreed to help identify and notify customers who are eligible for public benefits.

Thursday’s announcement represents the latest effort by the White House to demonstrate that officials are working to address rising costs of goods and services as inflation spikes. Costs have risen as the economy has reopened amid the…