Dear John,

Welcome to your Weekly Wrap, a recap of the week in Congress and highlights of my work.  
 
Last week, I introduced the Scratch Cooked Meals for Students Act, legislation to expand scratch cooking in schools. The House Committee on Education and the Workforce held a full committee markup entitled Bolstering the Workforce and Academic Freedom. Unfortunately, the House advanced six pieces of legislation as part of the House Republican Majority’s “Energy Week.” 
 
More from the week:  The House passed H.Res. 1102, the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, the final Minibus for Fiscal Year 2024. In case you missed it, I secured nearly $9 million in Community Project Funding in FY24 appropriations legislation.  
 
Lastly, I am including an update on our first Passport Day of 2024.  
 
For my full recap, please read below.  

Scratch Cooked Meals for Students Act 

 This National Nutrition Month, I introduced the Scratch Cooked Meals for Students Act. The legislation establishes a grant program under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to expand scratch cooking in schools.  
 
Scratch cooking allows school districts to prepare their own meals using fresh, locally sourced ingredients instead of serving pre-assembled or processed meals. This innovative approach incorporates a farm-to-table system in the school setting helping to reduce water, carbon, and waste footprints. 
 
Fruits and vegetables are key for healthy growth and brain development in children. Instilling healthy eating habits early on means improved academic performance and lower risk for serious health conditions like heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. Scratch cooking not only brings fresh, nutritious meals into schools, it promotes workforce development, stimulates economic growth, and strengthens local partnerships between school districts and local farmers and producers.  
 
My legislation is a comprehensive way to create healthy, environmentally conscious eating habits in students at an early age, which they can carry well into adulthood.    
 
Learn more about the Scratch Cooked Meals for Students Act here.  

Bolstering the Workforce and Academic Freedom 

Worker misclassification is a significant issue in this country.  
 
Audits have found that as many as 10 to 30 percent of American employers misclassify workers as independent contractors rather than employees. The final rule issued by the Biden Administration will make it harder for corporations to avoid accountability for wage theft or unfair labor practices.  
 
Unfortunately, H.J.Res 116 seeks to rollback worker protections and make it easier for corporations to deny workers benefits like overtime, workers compensation, and minimum wage. 
 
Last week, when the House Committee on Education and the Workforce held a full committee markup of the bill, I spoke in opposition to the legislation. This resolution does not help workers. It will only serve to deny workers their rights while enabling the worst behavior by employers. 
 
To listen to my full remarks during the Committee markup, click here.  

“Energy Week”

Last week, the House Republican Majority passed six energy-related pieces of legislation in what they have deemed “Energy Week”. Yet again, the majority has chosen to focus on the interests of big oil companies instead of the needs of the American people. Last year, the majority advanced eerily similar provisions that would pad the pockets of oil and gas executives and erode the critical progress communities have made to protect our environment.  

While framed as a package to bring energy costs down, this disingenuous legislative package includes legislation that repeals, weakens, or otherwise erodes the oversight and regulatory powers of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers established by the Clean Water Act (CWA) over 50 years ago. It also strips executive authority to issue a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking; and repeals the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund created in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). 
 
Many of my Republican colleagues have claimed the Administration’s energy policies are anti-American, yet in 2023 the United States produced more oil and gas than any other country ever and exported unprecedented amounts of liquified natural gas. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) the United States is producing more energy than ever before in its history.  
 
Instead of offering empty promises like many of my Republican colleagues, House Democrats continue to deliver solutions to stabilize our energy sector and address carbon emissions and air pollution. 

These efforts include passing the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).  The IRA invests $630 million in large-scale clean power generation and storage to Connecticut between now and 2030, boosts U.S. manufacturing of clean energy and transportation technologies, and is helping Connecticut farms lead on climate-smart agriculture. This legislation continues to improve the Connecticut energy sector.  

Additionally, I voted to pass the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which includes $65 billion for clean energy transmission and smart energy grid technologies. It also invests $21 billion to clean up Superfund and brownfield sites, reclaim abandoned mine land, and cap orphaned oil and gas wells. 

These investments are critical in the Fifth, which is no stranger to environmental abuses. During my time in Congress, I have worked to bring back federal resources for brownfield remediation in Waterbury, New Britain, and Torrington – places where asthma-related illnesses are on the rise as a direct result of environmental factors. Communities in the district are finally starting to see that once blighted properties have been transformed into fisheries, art spaces, and even affordable housing, and miles of rivers in Connecticut have been granted Wild and Scenic designations.  

I will continue to support legislation that promotes a cleaner, healthier environment and provides affordable energy solutions to my constituents.  
 
ICYMI: I received a 97% on the 2023 League of Conservation Voters (LCV) annual National Environmental Scorecard, which tracks the votes on critical environmental, climate, environmental justice, and democracy legislation. 

An Update on Fiscal Year 2024 Appropriations Funding
 
On Friday, I voted to pass H.Res. 1102, the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024. This minibus includes funding for Defense, Financial Services and General Government, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies, Legislative Branch, and State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs. 
 
The minibus passed the House by a vote of 286-134. Once again, House Democrats provided the votes to improve the cost of living, protect the rights of women, reinforce the United States as a global leader, and improve safety in our communities.  
 
This minibus completes the appropriations process for Fiscal Year 2024 after several months of continuing resolutions and threats of government shutdowns.  

ICYMI: I secured $9 million for the Fifth District

In case you missed it, I secured nearly $9 million in Community Project Funding for the Fifth District of Connecticut through the Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations. The funding is for new affordable housing units, housing infrastructure, water pollution, food insecurity, pedestrian safety improvement, and emergency communications across urban, suburban, and rural communities.  
 
The 2024 Community Project Funding includes:  

• Brookfield: $963,000 for Emergency Radio System Upgrade for the Town of Brookfield
• Danbury: $1,666,279 for City of Danbury’s Transit Center Project 
• Goshen: $50,000 for drinking water system improvements at units of affordable housing      
• Litchfield: $500,000 to upgrade the Litchfield Volunteer Ambulance Facility      
• Meriden: $1,000,000 for a new Senior Center at the City of Meriden 
• Morris: $300,000 for affordable housing infrastructure with the Morris Housing Authority           
• New Britain: $959,752 for NB FLUSH to renovate City of New Britain sewer infrastructure        
• New Britain: $1,000,000 for a homeless center expansion at Friendship Service Center 
• Plymouth: $959,752 for reduction of phosphorous at the Water Pollution Control Facility       
• Salisbury: $110,000 for the Perry Street Affordable Homeownership project     
• Torrington: $45,000 for fire suppression system repairs for the Torrington Housing Authority     
• Waterbury: $850,000 for sidewalk improvements for the City of Waterbury at Hamilton Park 
• Waterbury: $100,000 for a food pantry at The Gathering Place Community Church                 
• Woodbury: $225,000 for Flanders Nature Center to build an environmental education pavilion 

To learn more about Community Project Funding, please click here. 

Passport Day 

Our 2023 Passport Day events were a great success, so we are bringing them back! 
 
Ahead of the peak travel season, my office will host a Passport Day at the Danbury War Memorial on Saturday, April 20, 2024, from 9AM – 1PM.  

This is an opportunity to renew your passport or apply for the first time. To schedule an appointment, please call 860-223-8412. Walk-ins are also welcome.  
 
Applications and fees will be collected on site and photos can be taken at the event at no cost. No passports will be printed on-site. Passports will be mailed to you in accordance with routine processing times.  
 
For additional details on Passport Day, please click here. 
 
And that’s a wrap!  

Jahana Hayes

Member of Congress