[No Trump Dough for heating]


The Trump administration has abruptly laid off the entire staff running a $4.1 billion program to help low-income households across the United States pay their heating and cooling bills, my colleague Brad Plumer reports. Most of that money has already been distributed to states. But some $378 million that was approved by Congress hasn’t been sent out yet. 


“If there’s no staff, how do you allocate the rest of this money?” said Mark Wolfe, the executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, a nonprofit that represents state aid officials in Washington.

The Department of Health and Human Services said it intended to comply with federal law. The department is undergoing a dramatic reorganization in line with the Department of Government Efficiency’s drive to shrink the federal work force.

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A man walks through a doorway labeled “Voting Entrance.”
Voting in Waukesha, Wis., on Tuesday.Credit...Jim Vondruska for The New York Times

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