Thursday, February 23, 2023 – The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Division of Energy Assistance (DEA), announced that it is releasing $1 billion in state block grants for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) for fiscal year 2023. Congress appropriated these funds under the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2023, which Congress included with the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 and signed it into law on December 29, 2022 by President Biden. The $1 billion supplemental LIHEAP funding is separate and distinct from the prior two supplemental LIHEAP funding releases for fiscal year 2023; the $100 million in supplemental funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the $1 billion in supplemental funds from the Continuing Appropriations Act of 2023 that were released on November 4, 2022. Additionally, HHS anticipates there will be one more release for fiscal year 2023 from reallotment funds from monies returned to HHS in FY 2022. Thus far, HHS has released a total of $5.5 billion in LIHEAP block grants for fiscal year 2023, significantly more than the $3.8 billion awarded for all of fiscal year 2022. EMA fully supports LIHEAP and continuously urged Congress for supplemental LIHEAP funding last year.