Maine lawmakers are asking the Trump administration to reconsider its decision to eliminate the staff of a federal heating assistance program that serves thousands of households in the state — a move that has created uncertainty about how the program will operate going forward.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced layoffs earlier this week as part of an effort to reduce the federal workforce, including the entire staff of about 20 people in the Low-Income Heating Assistance Program office.

Ninety-two Maine lawmakers wrote to DHHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday to express disappointment with the decision and to ask the department to reconsider and provide an explanation of how the program will run without its federal staff.

“We are deeply concerned that decimating the staff that administers the program not only usurps the constitutional authority of Congress, but that it will have devastating impacts on Mainers and make it harder for those who rely on LIHEAP to afford to heat their homes during the long, cold winter months that our state experiences,” the letter said.

It was spearheaded by Rep. Tavis Hasenfus, D-Readfield, according to a news release from the House Democratic Office.

The lawmakers who signed are all Democrats with the exception of Sen. Rick Bennett, R-Oxford, and independent Reps. Bill Pluecker of Warren and Sharon Frost of Belgrade.

LIHEAP is a federally funded program administered through MaineHousing. The program serves about 51,000 households in Maine, according to U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree’s office.

Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, said earlier this week that the federal staff typically act as liaisons between the federal government and individual states and mostly work on oversight, auditing and ensuring payments are made.

MaineHousing has said that, in the short term, all current applications for this program year will continue to be processed, and it still expects to receive the remaining 2025 grant funding it is due. However, the agency also expressed concerns about long-term plans and said it will be working with Maine’s congressional delegation to get answers.