With winter around the corner, New York Assembly Democrats unveiled a plan Tuesday to help ease the burden of home heating oil costs.Standing in front of a Yonkers home, lawmakers talked about the tough financial choices homeowners will face. Many of those homeowners are seniors on fixed incomes who must shell out money for heating oil and prescription drugs.

"In Rockland and in Westchester, home heating oil will become either a fuel-or-food reality and that should never be," said Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee. "That is an outrage and it's something that we should address now. A warm house is not a luxury, it's a necessity."

Jaffee, Committee on Energy Chairman Kevin Cahill, Assemblyman Mike Spano and others are pushing for increased funding to keep homes warm as part of an $800 million home heating assistance plan. The lawmakers said the funding would come from a new tax on record oil company profits.

The lawmakers hope their colleagues in the state Senate will work with them to approve the plan before temperatures drop.

NYS Energy Research and Development AuthorityHEAP hot line: 1-800-342-3009