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Dear Friend,
It’s been a busy week in Congress, and I’m here with an update on steps we’ve taken to avoid a needless default on the U.S. debt and more local news from back home. As always, thanks for starting your weekend here with me.
Signing Onto a Discharge Petition to Avoid a Needless & Catastrophic Default
We’re just days away from a default on the U.S. debt. This would have catastrophic effects on our economy and global standing of the U.S. dollar – all because Speaker Kevin McCarthy has decided to tie raising the debt ceiling to a wish list of harmful policies.
Raising the debt ceiling means paying back the money we’ve already spent. Failure do to so would have vast global consequences for the U.S. dollar. These impacts would be passed on to nearly every aspect of our economy - state and local governments, small businesses and families - in the form higher interest rates, making routine lending both more expensive and difficult. Defaulting on our debt would kill about 7,300 jobs in CT-02, and more than 7 million jobs nationwide. It would jeopardize Social Security payments for nearly 100,000 families in the district. These are just a few of the data points on the severe, long-term damages that come from a default -- and exactly why Congress has passed a "clean" debt limit bill 78 times on a bipartisan basis.
To that end, on Wednesday, I was the 19th member to sign a discharge petition which would force the House to vote on a sensible, bipartisan bill to raise the debt ceiling. After signing the petition on the House floor, I stepped out to provide a few thoughts. Watch below.
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| Immediately after signing the discharge petition, Rep. Courtney delivered remarks on the importance of raising the debt limit. Click here to watch. |
Working With Child & Family Agency of Southeastern CT to Expand Mental Health Services for Young Students
Access to quality mental health care and counseling can be hugely beneficial to young students’ future success.
In New London, I recently caught up with Child and Family Agency (CFA) of Southeastern CT. They’ve been serving students and families in New London County for over 50 years – providing mental health care, counseling, and other critical resources. As one of my 2023 Congressionally-funded Community Projects, CFA will receive $650,000 to hire five full-time mental health clinicians to serve students in K-2nd grade classrooms in New London, Groton, Waterford, and Ledyard.
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| I recently caught up with the team at Child and Family Agency out of New London, Connecticut, to review how the recent federal support they received will support mental health services in the region. |
The issue of poor mental health among young people is not new, but the need for services is growing more dire. I’m proud to secure this federal funding to expand care and counseling for young students in southeastern CT.
Catching Up With Student Farmers in Mansfield
I’m committed to keeping eastern Connecticut a great place for farming businesses – now and for decades to come.
I’m grateful to have had the recent opportunity to visit Spring Valley Student Farm out of Mansfield, Connecticut. Originating in 2010, Spring Valley has blossomed into a year-round community for eleven student farmers living in UConn housing. While completing their degree, these young farmers learn about sustainable community living, organic food growing methods, and the business aspects of how food is harvested and processed. The program provides students with practical knowledge and skills as they also grow organic produce for UConn Dining Services. As these UConn students learn and deliver food from farm to table, they also gain an understanding on low-cost agricultural methods by way of Spring Valley’s solar-powered farm.
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| I recently had the opportunity to visit Spring Valley Student Farm, a program out of UConn which supports emerging young farmers in our district. |
Spring Valley Student Farm is an important conduit which connects young adults to the agriculture industry. The average age of America’s farmers rests at over 57 years old. It is critical that we encourage new generations to enter the field so that we can continue to realize a local, domestically sourced food supply.
Here in Congress, I have been working to advance that mission by leading the charge on my Young Farmer Success Act, which makes farms and ranchers eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. When constituents from the National Young Farmers Coalition visited my Washington Office, we discussed how student loan debt impedes emerging agricultural producers from entering the industry. Public Service Loan Forgiveness alleviates public service professionals from their student loan debt after 10 years of income-drive payments, and provides a sensible, deserved opportunity to incentivize prospective farmers who may not have much cash on hand early in their careers.
Police Week: Showing Our Gratitude to Those Who Keep Us Safe
Police officers serve our communities tirelessly. Their work is difficult and often dangerous. We should always be grateful for all they do to keep us safe, and during Police week in particular, I’m proud to stand with the men and women of eastern Connecticut who wear the blue.
Our police departments are pillars of service in our communities. They support us in all sorts of ways, and we’ve got to support them too. One of the biggest challenges departments face currently is meeting hiring goals. The federal COPS grant program provides resources to aid departments in the hiring of new officers, training, community policing, and more. Eastern Connecticut departments make use of COPS grant funding, and in the past three federal budget cycles, I’ve helped substantially boost the COPS grant program. In the 2023 budget, we successfully increase funding to COPS grant program by $663 million – including a significant increase of $225 for COPS Hiring grants.
I’ve also worked side-by-side with our police departments to secure targeted federal funding for equipment upgrades. The Suffield Police Department and the Norwich Police Department have both upgraded their Computer Aided Dispatch and Records Management Systems thanks to federal Community Project funding I secured in the 2022 and 2023 budgets. Other towns in our region have deployed resources from the American Rescue Plan, which I helped pass into law, to bolster their police departments. In Essex and Montville, the towns purchased new police cruisers with funding from the Rescue Plan. In the City of Norwich, the aid from the American Rescue Plan was utilized to save the employment of three police officers.
This week, and every week, we say THANK YOU to police officers for their dedicated and brave public service to our communities.
It’s Infrastructure Week!
This week is also Infrastructure Week – a great time to highlight the once-in-a-generation impact the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is having on our region. The IIJA was signed into law 18 months ago, and it’s poured federal funding into the Second District to help our state and local governments take on projects which will set us up for future economic growth and development. From road and bridge repairs, to dredging work, to airport upgrades, to pipeline modernization, and more, the Infrastructure Law has taken projects which had been on the “to-do” list for years and made them possible.
Funding from the Infrastructure Law will continue to roll into our region over the next few years. Some projects have already been completed thanks to the great work of the skilled workers in our region. Take a look below at some of the infrastructure projects made possible by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
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Thanks for taking some time to read my update. If we can be of any assistance, don't hesitate to give my Norwich office a call at (860) 886-0139.
Sincerely,
Joe Courtney
Member of Congress
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