 Energy & Environment |
Energy & Environment |
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All staff cut at federal HHS energy affordability office |
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has fired all of the workers in its program that seeks to help low-income Americans pay their energy bills. |
Everyone who had been working on the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) was let go Tuesday, according to now-former employee Andrew Germain. "Every single federal staff member that worked on LIHEAP was let go, so there are no federal staff members left to work on the program," Germain told The Hill. He said that prior to both probationary cuts and the latest round of firings, there had been about 15 people working on LIHEAP. The program doles out funds to states, which in turn use the money to help people pay to heat and cool their homes and prevent utilities from shutting off the air or heat. According to Germain, all of the staff who worked on Social Services Block Grants, which help states and territories pay for social services that protect people, including children, from neglect and abuse, were also let go. The firings come as HHS fired thousands of people as part of the Trump administration's efforts to cut staffing for federal agencies. A press release from the agency said that HHS was letting go of 10,000 people on top of another 10,000 staffers who were lost to prior efforts to reduce jobs. "We aren't just reducing bureaucratic sprawl. We are realigning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities in reversing the chronic disease epidemic," HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. "This Department will do more — a lot more — at a lower cost to the taxpayer." Read more at TheHill.com. |
Welcome to The Hill's Energy & Environment newsletter, I'm Rachel Frazin — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains. |
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How policy will affect the energy and environment sectors now and in the future: |
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President Trump on Wednesday announced a baseline 10 percent tariff on imports from all foreign countries, as well as higher tariff rates for dozens of nations that the White House deemed the "worst offenders" when it came to trade barriers. |
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Uncontrolled livestock grazing is destroying streamside habitats that are critical to endangered plants and animals in Arizona and New Mexico, a new report has found. |
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Five out of seven Colorado River basin states are failing to maximize a critical resource that could help alleviate the region's long-standing water crisis, a new report found. |
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News we've flagged from other outlets touching on energy issues, the environment and other topics: |
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Two key stories on The Hill right now: |
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Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) set a new record for the longest Senate speech in history on Monday and Tuesday by holding the upper chamber's floor for more than 25 hours. Read more |
| President Trump on Wednesday announced he was imposing reciprocal tariffs on dozens of nations, citing what he called years of unfair trade practices. Read more |
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You're all caught up. See you tomorrow! |
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