[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 112 (Monday, July 8, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H4460-H4461]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            REAUTHORIZING LONG ISLAND SOUND PROGRAM FUNDING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Courtney) for 5 minutes.
  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.

[[Page H4461]]

  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.

                              {time}  1215

  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

  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.

                          ____________________