Obama Doesn’t Care If 8.9 Million Residents Freeze

The winter of 2011 has been a brutal one. Atlanta has iced over several times. Chicago has fought a blizzard. Tulsa is getting blanketed again. Road crews are busier than ever.

Yet President Obama has come up with one way to slash the budget. He wants to cut heating assistance, a program called LIHEAP, in half. Obama wants to cut $2.5 billion from a $5 billion home heating aid program for the poor.

The proposal would cut the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program to its 2008 level of about $2.5 billion.

While unemployment is at a record high, and more people than ever are applying for heating aid, Obama thinks it might be a good place to cut spending.

According to AP News, the number is expected to climb to 8.9 million households, up from 8.3 million last year and 7.7 million the year before.