Press Releases
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Joe Courtney today announced that the Mystic Fire Department secured $700,000in federal funding from the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA's Port Security Grant Program (PSGP). The funding will be used for a fire boat with large pumping capacity, rescue, and hazardous materials response capabilities, which will be ported in Mystic and available to respond to regional emergencies.
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Joe Courtney today announced that two small agricultural businesses in East Haddam and Preston have secured a combined $117,071 in federal grants through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). Ballek's Garden Center of East Haddam and Preston's T&C Greenhouses secured $71,853 and $45,218, respectively. The funding will be used to purchase and install renewable-energy systems and make energy-efficiency improvements.
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Joe Courtney today announced that LIUNA Training in Pomfret has secured a $187,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration to train unemployed and underemployed Connecticut workers for jobs in the energy efficiency and green construction industry.
Washington, D.C. – Congressman Joe Courtney, and Senators Joe Lieberman and Richard Blumenthal today announced $5,302,900 in federal funds to upgrade railroad track to the Providence, Worcester, and Willimantic freight rail line. The upgrades will increase operating speeds and make movement of freight shipments more efficient.
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Joe Courtney tonight released the following statement after President Obama's jobs speech to a joint session of Congress:
"Washington's focus veered off course with the unnecessary, distracting debate over the debt ceiling. With today's speech, we are rightly focusing where we should have all along: on creating jobs and protecting our economic recovery.
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Joe Courtney today announced that Groton-based Electric Boat (EB) secured a $23,068,954 contract from the U.S. Navy to perform submarine repair work at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Under the contract, about 880 EB tradesmen will perform repair work on the USS Newport News and USS West Virginia. The repair work, which is expected to be completed by September 2012, will further stabilize EB's workforce, as production work continues to ramp up at the yard.
WASHINGTON, DC – All seven members of Connecticut's congressional delegation Thursday urged President Obama to visit the state and observe first-hand the devastation caused by Hurricane Irene.
In a letter to the President, the delegation cited major flooding caused by five Connecticut rivers, coastal surge, and wave damage to support the case for an emergency declaration for the state.
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Joe Courtney today released the following statement as work to restore power across eastern Connecticut dragged into a fifth day:
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Joe Courtney today urged Secretary of Energy Dr. Stephen Chu and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to coordinate out-of-state utility crews to help restore power and utilities in Connecticut after Hurricane Irene.
Courtney sent the following letter today:
August 30, 2011
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Joe Courtney today urged Vietnam-era veterans who have medical diagnoses for three presumptive conditions related to Agent Orange exposure to file their disability claims with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) by August 30 to quality for up to one year of retroactive benefits. The three diseases recently added to the VA's list of presumptive conditions related to Agent Orange are ischemic heart disease, hairy cell and other B-cell leukemias and Parkinson's disease.