U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole has been praised for her support of home-energy assistance.

In June, the National Fuel Funds Network, a nonprofit coalition of energy assistance providers, awarded the Salisbury Republican a "2008 Extra Mile Award."

The award, noted by Dole on her campaign Web site, was given in recognition of her support for emergency funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP. 

The group praised Dole for recent legislation on its Web site: 

Sen. Dole, was honored for co-sponsoring an amendment offered by Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-VT) to include $800 million for the program in appropriations legislation last December and for leading an effort to insure that such an amendment would be allocated equally between formula grants and emergency contingency funds to insure a national deployment of the aid.

Dole was criticized in a recent TV ad by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for voting against an emergency funding bill in 2006. Her staff said that bill was skewed to northern states. 

Sen. Elizabeth Dole voted against an amendment on a home-energy assistance bill in 2006.

Started in 1981, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, provides funding to states to provide one-time assistance to millions of people who need help paying their heating and cooling bills.

In 2006, Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine proposed transferring an additional $1 billion from the 2007 budget for more immediate assistance that year.

During debate on the proposal, Dole voted against an amendment proposed by Snowe. The amendment passed 68-31. The overall bill later passed the Senate on a voice vote.

Dole spokesman Dan McLagan said Dole objected to how the money would be spent.

"The vast majority of the package was aimed at cold-weather states," he said. "All this money was going to go to northern states for a winter that had been mild, versus southern states that had a hot summer."

He added that more people die from hot weather than cold.

A recent ad by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, citing this vote, says Dole voted "against helping families struggling to keep their homes."

That wording — plus images of a foreclosure sign on a home — makes it sound as though Dole voted against help for homeowners, but the vote was actually on a heating bill.