Gallego and Kelly introduced the LIHEAP Parity Act of 2025 to fix outdated formula

WASHINGTON — Today, Arizona Senators Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly responded to a new report from Duke University’s Heat Policy Innovation Hub finding that an outdated federal assistance formula is leaving hot-weather states like Arizona systematically underfunded under the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), even as extreme heat drives record energy costs for low-income families.

The report finds that historic underfunding of the LIHEAP program means that fewer than 20 percent of income-eligible households nationwide receive assistance each year. However, decades-old provisions in the LIHEAP statute disproportionately benefit cold-weather states while Arizona and other states receive the lowest funding per eligible household. The analysis concludes that current funding does not reflect today’s energy realities and recommends aligning LIHEAP allocations with each state’s share of low-income home energy expenditures as the statute originally intended.

Last year, Gallego and Kelly introduced the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Parity Act of 2025to fix this outdated formula and ensure federal home energy assistance is distributed equitably and reflects current energy needs.

“In Arizona, access to affordable cooling is a matter of life and death. But the formula that determines how much federal energy assistance our state receives leaves Arizona and other hot-weather states behind, and this report confirms it,” said Senator Gallego. “Our LIHEAP Parity Act would fix this injustice and help ensure families, seniors, and Arizonans with disabilities can afford to keep the A/C on and stay safe.”

“Arizona families are living through longer, hotter summers, and their energy bills reflect that reality,” said Senator Kelly. “But federal energy assistance is still being distributed using a formula written decades ago that doesn’t reflect today’s climate or costs. This report makes it clear that reform is overdue. Our LIHEAP Parity Act makes a straightforward fix so that federal energy assistance goes where it’s actually needed and helps more families keep the A/C running during dangerous heat events.”

LIHEAP is the federal government’s primary program for helping low-income households pay their energy bills. However, outdated provisions mean that LIHEAP funding unfairly benefits cold-weather states. These provisions were meant to ease the transition to a fairer formula, but instead, they’ve locked in long-term funding imbalances that disadvantage hot-weather states like Arizona. In 2023, less than five percent of eligible households in Arizona received LIHEAP assistance, whereas almost 90 percent of Michigan’s eligible households were served by this life-saving program.

Gallego and Kelly’s LIHEAP Parity Act of 2025 removes outdated “hold-harmless” provisions that have distorted how regular LIHEAP funds are distributed across states, locking in preferences for colder regions at the expense of hotter states like Arizona. The bill amends the underlying formula to ensure funding is based on current energy needs and usage—so resources go where they’re most needed.  

Specifically, the bill:  

  • Strikes the 1980s-era hold-harmless provisions from the LIHEAP allocation formula.  
  • Requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to publicly disclose the data sources used in the formula and how often they’re updated.  

Read the full report from Duke University HERE. 

Senator Gallego has been a leading advocate for LIHEAP and protecting families from rising energy costs. Last year, he pushed to defend the program after the Trump administration abruptly terminated all employees in the LIHEAP program office. In December, Gallego released a five-pillar plan for America’s energy future, “Fostering American Energy Innovation and Affordability.” Pillar four of the plan emphasizes prioritizing energy affordability for all by investing in programs like LIHEAP.