Group warns Alabama families face ‘life-threatening’ risks after cuts to utility assistance program
By Kayode Crown | kcrown@al.com
An Alabama nonprofit organization warns that thousands of low-income households could face life-threatening risks after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services fired all employees overseeing a federal utility bill assistance program.
Energy Alabama said in a recent press release that low-income families receive help with energy bills through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, especially during extreme weather. The nonprofit noted that intense summer heat and winter cold in Alabama can be dangerous and called for “immediate federal action to restore this crucial program.”
“This decision will likely strip essential utility bill support from tens of thousands of Alabamians—and millions more across the country,” Daniel Tait, executive director for Energy Alabama, said. “Without this critical assistance, many households face the very real risk of utility shutoffs, leaving families in unsafe, even life-threatening, conditions without power.”
According to news reports, HHS recently terminated about a dozen staff members who managed the utilities assistance program. Six million households nationwide depend on the program.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who announced the department’s restructuring last week, said the focus is on consolidating departments for more accountability and noted that the bid is to reduce full-time employees by 20,000.
“As part of President (Donald) Trump’s DOGE workforce reduction initiative, we are going to streamline HHS and make our agencies more efficient and more effective,” Kennedy said.
“We are going to streamline our agencies and eliminate the redundancies and invite everyone to align behind a single bold mission.”
An HHS spokesperson said in a statement to AL.com on Thursday that the department “will continue to comply with statutory requirements, and as a result of the reorganization, will be better positioned to execute on Congress’s statutory intent.”
Alabama U.S. Sens. Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville did not immediately respond to requests for comment for this story.