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Dear Friend,
After another week in Congress, I'm back home in eastern Connecticut. Here with an update on support from our allies for U.S. shipbuilders, a new grant to boost health care services in northeastern CT, and more. Thanks for starting your weekend here with me.
Hosting the Australian Minister for Defence Industry in Southeastern CT
Today, I welcomed Australian Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy to Groton and, together, we toured the Electric Boat shipyard for an update on shipbuilding and workforce development.
The trilateral AUKUS security agreement is charting a historic path forward to ensure a free and peaceful Indo-Pacific. Providing our Australian allies with a fleet of conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines is at the center of AUKUS, and there’s a lot of work ahead for all three nations to size up our submarine industrial bases to deliver on the goal.
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| Today, Rep. Courtney welcomed Australian Minister of Defence Industry Pat Conroy (center) to Groton and joined him for a tour of Electric Boat’s shipyard led by General Dynamics Electric Boat President Kevin Graney (left) |
In Congress, we’ve secured historic levels of investment for our submarine industrial base, and following visits to Electric Boat from Minister for Defence Richard Marles and senior Members of Parliament, the Australian government committed to investing $386 billion into the U.S. submarine industrial base. During today’s visit from Minister Conroy, we discussed action Congress needs to take to ensure this investment meets the needs of our eastern Connecticut shipbuilders.
In fact, just today, I co-introduced legislation with Foreign Affairs Committee leaders to clear the pathway to fulfill AUKUS. As the submarine capital of the world, the AUKUS Undersea Defense Act will help eastern Connecticut’s shipyard and its network of suppliers prepare for new work in support of AUKUS. Read more about it here.
Thank you to Electric Boat President Kevin Graney for welcoming Minister Conroy and I and continuing to provide updates on EB’s work to deliver for our Navy.
A New Federal Grant for Health Care Services in Northeastern CT
In Norwich today, I visited Generations Family Health Center to announce the non-profit will receive an over $1 million federal grant to support its services to people in Danielson, Putnam, Willimantic, and Norwich. For years, people in these towns and surrounding areas have relied on Generations for affordable, accessible, high-quality health care. This new federal funding will allow the organization to keep its fees low for care while maintaining its legacy of meeting patients where they are. At their Norwich facility, I caught up with the new CEO of Generations, Melissa Meyers, to hear more about how they will put this funding to use across their network of locations and continue to be a valuable community partner.
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| Today, Rep. Courtney joined Generations Family Health Center CEO Melissa Meyers (left) and Senior Vice President of Hartford Health Care to discuss how a new $1 million federal grant will support Generations' work. |
Today’s new grant comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Center Cluster program, which is designed to support local health centers like Generations which operate in rural communities. I’m committed to closing gaps in access to quality health care for people living in rural areas. With this funding, Generations health will expand medical, dental, and behavioral health care as well as provide essential outreach and care coordination services. In 2021, I delivered over $727,000 to Generations from the American Rescue Plan to make infrastructure enhancements which are expanding capacity to treat more patients.
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| Generations Family Health Center operates facilities in Danielson, Putnam, Willimantic, and Norwich. |
Thanks to CEO Melissa Meyers and the entire staff of Generations Family Health Services in Norwich for welcoming me today. Learn more about the $1 million grant announcement here.
Investing in Workforce Development to Close the "Skills Gap"
The U.S. economy continues to exceed the predictions of pundits and economists on both the right and the left of the political spectrum. Last week, we saw yet another great monthly jobs report. 339,000 Americans were hired, keeping the unemployment rate at a near record low. In addition, the Labor Department reported 10.1 million job openings, an increase of 358,000 unfilled jobs. To meet this demand as a nation we need to close the “skills gap”, which employers report is critical.
This week, during a hearing in the House Education and Workforce Committee I asked Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie Su about the work ahead for the Department of Labor to expand successful workforce development models across the country. Acting Secretary Su is awaiting Senate confirmation to become U.S. Secretary of Labor, and I was eager to hear her thoughts on sizing up these programs and working with the Department of Education to make it happen. Click below to watch.
In eastern Connecticut, the federally-funded Manufacturing Pipeline Initiative (MPI) has been a huge success – providing opportunity to jobseekers and helping employers meet hiring needs now and prepare for future work tied to the manufacturing spike in shipbuilding. Since the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board (EWIB) launched the MPI in 2015 with a $5 million federal grant we worked together to secure, 3,000 skilled workers have graduated from the program into good-paying, quality careers.
Last year, with $70 million in federal funding we secured in the American Rescue Plan, we launched the statewide program CareerConneCT – expanding the success of the MPI to jobseekers and employers across Connecticut and in more critical industries.
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| This week, Rep. Courtney announced $30 million in federal American Rescue Plan funding is being used to create a rental assistance program for qualifying participants in CareerConneCT. Click here to read more. |
As a senior member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, I’ll continue working with my colleagues and Acting Secretary of Labor Su to expand our success in eastern Connecticut to workers and employers nationwide.
Honoring the Fallen Sailors of the USS Frank E. Evans
On Tuesday, I joined a bipartisan group of colleagues to re-introduce legislation which remedies a decades long injustice and ensures fallen American servicemembers are duly honored.
On June 3rd, 1969, off the coast of Vietnam and just days after being in the combat zone defending our nation, the USS Frank E. Evans sank after a collision with another ship. 74 crew members lost their lives. Unfortunately, due to an arbitrary rule, their names were not included on the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.
Our bill, the USS Frank E. Evans Act, would remedy this injustice and ensure those 74 sailors who tragically lost their lives are remembered and added to the Memorial Wall.
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| Click here to read more about the USS Frank E. Evans Act. |
Thank you 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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