Politicking Unseemly with Federal Heating Aid ; Assistance That Once Lasted Half a Season Now Barely Covers a Month.

Summary

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What has become an ugly annual spectacle - thousands of poor and elderly Mainers struggling to pay winter heating bills while lawmakers in Washington jockey for political position - has taken on a particularly grotesque air this year.

Federal heating-oil assistance that once saw a needy family through half the season now barely covers a month's worth of warmth. It's not news to Mainers that the price of heating oil is up dramatically this year, but that reality hasn't taken hold in Washington. There, proposals to increase federal home-heating assistance for low-income people have been stalled.

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Extract

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Politicking Unseemly with Federal Heating Aid ; Assistance That Once Lasted Half a Season Now Barely Covers a Month.

All four of Maine's representatives there have done all in their power to secu...

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