Gov. John Lynch said Friday Congress’s failure to increase heating aid for low-income families is “a national disgrace.”

“While Americans are facing the highest heating costs of the year, Washington is turning its back,” he said.

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday stripped from a House defense budget bill a $2 billion increase for the Low-Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program in aid for low-income households. The action was tied to removal of a provision that would have allowed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Congress finished business without passing any change in LIHEAP and recessed for the holidays.

“It makes no sense for low-income energy assistance to be held political hostage to a deal over Arctic drilling, and it highlights precisely why Americans are so cynical about our national government,” Lynch said.

“For them to break and not have appropriated that funding I believe is a real disgrace. This is at a time when we are entering the cold winter months.”

State energy officials have seen a surge in applications for the aid, which so far this year totals $13.5 million. Another $2 million was carried over from last year’s supplemental award.

However, some families that barely qualified for the aid have already run through their allocation for the year, Office of Energy and Planning director MaryAnn Manoogian said.

Lynch said that this year’s need, because of higher energy prices, is likely to be more than $30 million.

On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Jeb Bradley, R-N.H., urged House leadership to reconvene so that emergency funding of LIHEAP could be taken up.

“With winter already under way, we cannot afford to reduce funding for the home heating assistance program,” he said. “Our state needs the additional funding just to meet last year’s purchasing power.”