You could almost hear the collective groan from Mainers this week when temperatures plummeted back into the teens. Two things invariably followed: furnaces kicked on and couples argued over who it was that turned up the damned thermostat.

For 40,000 Maine households — and about 1,300 in The Times Record’s coverage area — however, heating their homes is no joke. These households struggle to stay warm in the winter, but get some relief from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

LIHEAP primarily helps eligible low income families pay their heating bills, although a small portion of LIHEAP funds are also used to help improve furnaces, provide weatherization services and secure heating fuel in emergencies. The program is administered by MaineHousing.

“LIHEAP is not intended to pay a household’s entire fuel bill, it is to help pay the fuel bill. For a majority of people, the money goes directly to the fuel dealer, it does not go to the households,” Maine Housing spokeswoman Deborah Turcotte told The Times Record recently.

Maine received nearly $22 million in federal dollars for heating fuel costs through LIHEAP in fiscal year 2016. The average LIHEAP benefit per household in Maine for non-emergency fuel assistance benefits — which was the majority — was $668.

While local programs may provide one-time assistance for those who qualify, there’s no other program that does what LIHEAP does.

This program is deemed expendable under the Trump administration’s budget blueprint.

The argument goes that cutting the program is simply part of eliminating funding for programs that are duplicated in other departments or levels of government, or have a limited impact.

“Compared to other income support programs that serve similar populations, LIHEAP is a lower-impact program and is unable to demonstrate strong performance outcomes,” reads the administration’s budget blueprint.

As Maria Hinteregger, associate director of Community Impact at United Way of Mid Coast Maine, asked: “How can providing fuel assistance to keep someone’s home warm not be a demonstrated benefit?”

Good question.

Maine’s delegation will need to step up and fight for programs such as LIHEAP, Community Development Block Grant and other programs whose benefits are as tangible as they are necessary.

In his message to Congress, Trump says his blueprint “puts America first.”

But how can that be, when millions of Americans are left cold?