Reauthorizing Long Island Sound Program Funding

Floor Speech

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Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 5441, the Long Island Sound Restoration and Stewardship Reauthorization Act of 2023, which I introduced as the lead Democratic sponsor along with my Republican colleague and Long Island Sound Caucus co-chair, Nick LaLota from New York.

This overdue, bipartisan bill, which will be voted on this evening, reauthorizes critical Long Island Sound program funding, which expired at the end of the 2023 fiscal year. Congress must reauthorize this important program as soon as possible to ensure that Federal funds can continue to preserve and protect this unique body of water in the most densely populated area of our country.

Mr. Speaker, Long Island Sound is a national treasure. It is a tidal estuary that stretches 110 miles west to east, from the East River in New York City to Block Island Sound in Rhode Island. Its depth ranges from 65 feet to 230 feet, allowing transit for large and small ocean- going vessels.

Eighteen freshwater rivers flow into its salt waters, inducing an abundant array of plant life, fish, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, crustaceans, and birds.

It has been inhabited by humans for centuries, before European settlement up to the present. Now, more than 20 million Americans live within an hour's drive from its shores.

It is also a powerful engine to the region's economy, including maritime transportation, commercial and recreational fishing, ecotourism, and other water-dependent industries, including shipbuilding. Submarine construction at Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Connecticut, in my district in southeastern Connecticut, employs 16,000 workers and another 7,000 at Quonset Point in Rhode Island.

With all of that activity, it is clear an organized effort is required to sustain the Long Island Sound economy in a way that balances growth with its core natural coastal habitat.

To respond to this need, Congress passed the Long Island Sound Stewardship Act, which provided Federal dollars going back to 2006 for projects to revitalize the wildlife population. In 2018, Congress reauthorized that law and greatly expanded the annual investment to $40 million per year. Thanks to that funding, the amount of nitrogen entering Long Island Sound from sewage treatment plants has been reduced by 70 percent compared to the 1990s; hypoxic conditions have been reduced by 58 percent compared to the 1990s; over 2,239 acres of coastal habitat have been restored; and 570 conservation projects have been funded.

Through the advocacy of Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, Long Island Sound received $40 million in both 2023 and 2024, the largest funding level in the history of the program.

Mr. Speaker, to ensure that Congress can continue to support this amazing success, we must move quickly tonight and pass H.R. 5441.

Again, I thank my fellow Caucus co-chair, Representative LaLota from New York, and the Natural Resources Committee for their leadership in moving this bill forward. I urge my colleagues to vote in support of this bill. Welcoming Liat Beinin Atzili

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Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to welcome Liat Beinin Atzili to Washington, D.C. She is visiting the White House today to advocate for the safe return of all Israeli hostages being held by Hamas.

Liat, a dual American-Israeli citizen, and her husband, Aviv, were violently taken hostage by Hamas on October 7 from their Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Liat's extended family lives in Waterford, Connecticut. She had, in fact, visited that coastal town just weeks before the October 7 attack.

When her cousin in Waterford, resident Jerry Fischer, learned that Liat and her husband were kidnapped, he immediately called me on the morning of October 8.

Within just a few hours, my chief of staff, Ayanti Grant, set up Liat and Aviv as missing person cases to the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, immediately putting those agencies into action.

Over the following weeks, those agencies worked with the Atzili family closely to ensure that her release was a top priority for the administration.

Thanks to President Biden and Secretary Blinken's persistent diplomatic efforts, Liat was released 53 days later, alongside 104 other hostages taken during that weeklong cease-fire last November.

Unfortunately, hours after Liat's release, she was informed that her husband, Aviv, had been murdered by Hamas on October 7. The relief and joy that she and her family experienced upon her release was abruptly replaced by grief and sadness.

Despite her traumatic loss, Liat is here today in Washington as a living, breathing example of what diplomacy and negotiation can achieve. She wants to make sure that every other hostage gets the same result that she did.

I thank Liat, her father, Yehuda Beinin, and her cousin, Jerry Fischer, for turning this horrific experience into a call for a just and lasting peace in Palestine and Israel.

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