Sununu Asks For Heating Assistance Funding Just A Few Weeks After Voting Against It

For Immediate ReleaseContact: Bill Lofy
December 12, 2007(603)573-5067

Sununu asks for heating assistance funding just a few weeks after voting against it

Senator John E. Sununu yesterday asked the Bush administration for a meeting to discuss increasing funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). This meeting request comes just a few weeks after Sununu voted against appropriating such an increase in heating assistance.

“New Hampshire needs a senator who consistently stands up for heating assistance,” said Stop Sununu campaign director Bill Lofy. “Two weeks ago, when Senator Sununu had an opportunity to increase heating aid to the elderly and low income New Hampshire families, he sided with the president. On at least four other occasions as senator, Sununu voted against heating assistance. As congressman, Sununu was the only member of Congress from New England to vote against providing funding for a home heating oil reserve for the Northeast. And now Sununu says the way to fix the problem is to meet with the White House. If John Sununu really cared about increasing funding for heating assistance, he would vote for it, not just request a meeting with the president’s staff.”

In a related matter, the New Hampshire Union Leader today published a letter to the editor from Sununu, in which he defends his vote against heating assistance. But for its half-truths, the letter itself is unremarkable until the bottom, where Sununu is listed as being from Bedford.

“Has Senator Sununu forgotten where he lives?” Lofy asked. “Sununu sold his house in Bedford in 2003. Since then, his residence has been in Waterville Valley. If Senator Sununu went to the trouble of spending more time in the state that elected him to go to Washington, he would know that he hasn’t lived in Bedford for four years.”

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