Peter Welch Grills HHS Nom Over Trump's Cuts To Low-Income Heating Assistance

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During a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) asked Alex Adams, President Trump's nominee to be Assistant Secretary for Family Support in the Department of Health and Human Services about the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which was cut by the Trump administration.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Senator Welch.

00:04Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

00:08And Dr. Adams, I want to ask you a few questions.

00:11I understand you're from the great state of Idaho?

00:14Yes, sir.

00:15Should we?

00:18You know that guy?

00:23LIHEAP is an incredibly important program.

00:26It's getting zeroed under the budget.

00:27I know that you've played a major role in Idaho in administering the LIHEAP program there.

00:33It's really, really important in Vermont in those cold winters.

00:37I mean, what's your view on zeroing out the budget for LIHEAP?

00:40Well, Mr. Senator, as the nominee, I'm not involved in any of the budget discussions that have occurred to date.

00:46My understanding from the congressional justification is that the Trump administration...

00:50I'm not asking you what the congressional justification is.

00:53I'm asking you, your position on zeroing out a program that you administered in your state of Idaho

01:02and presumably thought was beneficial to the citizens of Idaho.

01:07That's what I'm asking.

01:08Senator, I would characterize my position as similar to what the secretary has told the Senate,

01:12which is LIHEAP, the administration is trying to lower energy prices for all Americans,

01:19if that doesn't happen in Congress.

01:22No, no.

01:22Look, you spent a lot of your professional career helping folks who needed low-income heating assistance.

01:30So you have a view about the program.

01:32You committed yourself to the administration of this.

01:36So I understand you're not the boss in terms of what the overall budget is,

01:40and you'll have to go along with the program.

01:42But I'm asking you, as a person who did really good work for the people of Idaho,

01:48administering the LIHEAP program, what do you think about zeroing out that program?

01:54Senator, I'll reiterate what the secretary said.

01:56If Congress funds it, we'll get the money out the door.

01:59But the president is zeroing it out, and you're not in Congress.

02:04You're not working for Senator Crapo.

02:05You're working for President Trump, right?

02:08So my question goes back to what's your view about zeroing out the LIHEAP program?

02:17So as a former state budget director, I would say no budget decision is ever made in a vacuum.

02:22It has to look at the total picture.

02:24And because this is an administration that's committed to energy policies,

02:27more permits than any administration.

02:29So you won't answer basically.

02:30You know, when you started talking about the market,

02:32the whole point of LIHEAP is it's people who don't have the resources to participate in the market.

02:38They have no control over, A, the weather, and B, the price of home heating fuel, right?

02:44Senator, you know, I think, you know, in states like mine,

02:47we have policies that prohibit shutting off of utilities for certain critical months.

02:51I think you're going to have to take into account the nuances and all the other factors in the market.

02:55I'm, you know, I'll just say candidly, I really admire the work you did in Idaho.

03:01On the LIHEAP program and my other things.

03:03And I'm really disappointed in your, from my perspective, lack of candor,

03:07about what your view is about zeroing out a program you work really hard on.

03:12Mr. McCarronin, the, my colleague from Nevada was asking you questions about the debt

03:22and interest rates are persistently high.

03:26And you're talking about pro-growth.

03:28Everybody's for pro-growth.

03:30But isn't the debt of $37 trillion an impediment to growth?

03:36Senator, I think the idea here is to use growth to drive changes to the debt dynamics.

03:44We've got to grow the economy faster than we grow the debt.

03:47No, I get that.

03:48But I'm asking, I'm asking a basic question that a lot of very serious economists are concerned about.

03:55Some Republicans, some Democrats.

03:57And that is, we've got about $37 trillion in debt.

04:00We just passed a bill that added $4 trillion in debt.

04:03And is it your position that there is, there's no problem with that or it can easily be solved

04:12by just making up an aspirational goal of higher growth?

04:17Oh, no, Senator.

04:18My position is that our, we are, we have a fiscal trajectory that is not sustainable

04:25and indeed is a, really a test of our national character, how we deal with our fiscal challenges.

04:30But I'm suggesting that growth is a central part of our path to the solution.

04:35Well, you know, I'm pro-growth.

04:36I think everybody on this committee probably is.

04:38How we get there is obviously a debate.

04:41But our debt service, quarter 20, in 2021, first quarter was $700 billion.

04:48In the first quarter of 2025, it was $1.114 billion.

04:52And it's going to be higher than what we spend on anything else in government very, very soon.

04:58Is that a concern to you?

05:00Senator, the growth in interest expenses is just another indicator of the fiscal,

05:06it's unsustainable path that we are on.

05:08And we've got to address the debt dynamic.

05:10And it was made more intensely, more intense by the passage of the recent legislation.

05:17I see my time is up, Mr. Chairman.

05:19Thank you for your consideration.

05:20Thank you, sir.

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