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Dear Friend,
After a busy week in Congress, I’m back home in eastern Connecticut. Here with an update on preserving the Long Island Sound, fair compensation for dairy farmers, and more. As always, thanks for starting your weekend here with me.
Meeting with Freed Israeli-American Hostage Liat Beinin Atzili
On Tuesday, I had the honor of meeting freed Israeli-American hostage Liat Beinin Atzili. On October 8th, the day after Liat was abducted by Hamas on October 7th from Kibbutz Nir Oz, my team and I worked with her extended family in Waterford to ensure her safe release remained a top priority at the State Department. After 54 days in captivity, Liat was released in November during the negotiated ceasefire.
Despite the traumatic loss of her husband Aviv, who was murdered by Hamas on October 7th, Liat came to Washington this week to advocate for the release of all remaining hostages held by Hamas.
She is a living example of what negotiation can achieve, and I thank her, her father Yehuda, and her cousin and Waterford resident Jerry Fischer, for taking their horrific experience and delivering a powerful call for just and lasting peace, for Israelis and Palestinians.
On Monday, I spoke on the House floor to welcome Liat to Washington, DC. Watch here.
Preserving the Long Island Sound
The Long Island Sound is an ecological treasure and a pillar of our region’s economy. I’ve always worked in a bipartisan fashion to support the critical programs that preserve and protect the Sound for future generations. This week, we reached a significant landmark for those continued efforts in the 118th Congress.
On Monday, the House passed my bill, the Long Island Sound Restoration and Stewardship Reauthorization Act, with strong bipartisan support.
I led this effort with Rep. Nick LaLota, my Republican colleague from Long Island. Our bill would provide a 5-year reauthorization for critical EPA programs that ensure the Long Island Sound remains a valuable resource for the millions of people who live in its coastal communities – from the East River in New York City to Block Island Sound in Rhode Island.
Following House passage, Rep. LaLota and I met with the Long Island Sound Citizens Advisory Committee and updated them on the path ahead to have this funding included in the Fiscal Year 2025 federal budget. As Co-Chairs of the Long Island Sound Caucus, we’ll continue to forge ahead by working on both sides of the aisle.
3 Bipartisan Bills in 90 Days
The passage of our Long Island Sound preservation bill marked my third bipartisan bill that has been passed by the House in the last 90 days.
In April, the House passed my bill to support missing and exploited children – which has now been signed into law – and in May, the House passed my bill to protect Coast Guard Academy personnel from sexual assault.
These results prove once again that bipartisanship is the only path forward – particularly in a closely divided Congress that has been bogged down by intraparty fighting. Time and time again, when Congress has faced cliffs and pressing deadlines, I’ve stepped across the aisle to work with Republicans to avert a catastrophic default on our nation’s full faith and credit, prevent government shutdowns, and strengthen our national security. After this work, the Lugar Center ranked me the most bipartisan Member of Congress from Connecticut.
Securing Fair Compensation for Dairy Farmers
Good news for eastern Connecticut dairy farmers. After I led my colleagues in calling for the Department of Agriculture to update a 2018 milk pricing change that has shortchanged dairy farmers nationwide by billions of dollars, the department followed suit last week and took action to fairly compensation dairy farmers.
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| As the Co-Chair of the bipartisan Congressional Dairy Caucus, Rep. Courtney is a fierce advocate in Washington for eastern Connecticut dairy farmers |
While the milk pricing change in 2018 was enacted with the support of dairy farmers and economist, it has not worked as intended and the result has been devastating for farmers. It undercut milk prices, leaving many farmers with lower returns than they would have had otherwise. I’m glad the USDA heeded my calls and saw urgent need to make this update which will benefit dairy farmers in eastern Connecticut and across the nation.
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. Have a great weekend!
Sincerely,
Joe Courtney
Member of Congress
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