Assistant Speaker Clark Secures Billions To Support Massachusetts Families in Fiscal Year 2022 Budget

In full transparency, the following is a press release from Congresswoman Katherine Clark’s office. The Assistant Speaker is a Democrat.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, July 29, Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark (MA-5) celebrated the passage of nine Fiscal Year 2022 Appropriations bills. As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, Assistant Speaker Clark secured a number of legislative priorities to support the success of Massachusetts’ families, including $7.4 billion for the Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG), $12.2 billion for Head Start, $95 million for the Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program to support student-parents at community colleges, $1 billion for 125,000 new low-income housing vouchers, and the repeal of discriminatory bans on abortion coverage including the Hyde Amendment.

“House Democrats are working every day to advance policies that put the needs of the American people first,” said Assistant Speaker Clark. “This is a comprehensive, bold funding package that directs dollars toward good-paying American jobs, education, child care, public health infrastructure, women’s rights, climate justice, and much more. I am proud to support these bills that not only confront the challenges we face, but also helps build a more equitable and sustainable future for all Americans.”

Assistant Speaker Clark secured the following resources to support American families:

Children and Families

• $7.377B for CCDBG, an increase of $1.4677 over FY21

• $12.2B for Head Start and Early Head Start, an increase of $1.43B over FY21
• $10M for the Maternal Depression Grant program, an increase of $5M over FY21
• $95M for child care on college campuses, an increase of $40M over FY21
• $637 million for programs to support the safety and empowerment of women and girls, including efforts to combat child marriage and gender-based violence around the world
• $760 million for bilateral international family planning and reproductive health, which is $185 million over FY21 enacted
• $3 million to provide shelter to domestic violence victims with pets, a $500K increase over FY21

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Civil Rights

• Authorized Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients to work for Congress
• Prohibited educational institutions that use electric shock devices to discipline students from receiving federal funding

Women’s Health and Rights

• Following a letter to Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough, Clark included a directive to the VA to implement a comprehensive sexual assault and harassment policy as required by law
• Directed the State Department to include violations of women’s reproductive rights in its annual country human rights reports 
• Exclusion of the Hyde Amedment, a discriminatory policy that prohibits the use of federal Medicaid funding for abortion services
• Exclusion of the Global and Domestic Gag Rules, which prohibit health organizations funded by the United States from providing family-planning services to women
• Exclusion of the Helms Amendment, which limits the use of U.S. foreign assistance for abortion

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Substance Use Disorders

• $28M for the Substance Use Disorder Workforce Loan Repayment program, an increase of $12M over FY21
• $110 million for the Drug-Free Communities program 

Gun Violence Prevention

• Required HHS to commission a study on the underlying factors contributing to animal abuse and future acts of violence 
• $25M for the CDC/NIH’s research into firearm safety and morbidity, an increase of $12.5M over FY21

Housing Crisis

• $52 million for rapid rehousing and supportive service projects to assist survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking
• $1 billion for 125,000 new low-income housing vouchers, the first real increase in the number of housing vouchers since the start of the Great Recession in 2008

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Environmental Protections

• Directed the Department of Energy to establish a Carbon Dioxide Removal Task Force
• $60 million in total funding for offshore wind energy research 
• $81.9 million for Climate Adaptation Science Centers, an increase of $21.4 million over FY21 enacted

Massachusetts

• $1M for programs like the Uncornered program in Boston, which helps former gang members pursue higher education
• $10 million for enhanced vouchers to support Massachusetts state low-income housing
• $5 million to support dock infrastructure at state maritime academies like Mass Maritime
• Includes $50 million for Armenia for economic development, private sector productivity, energy independence, democracy and the rule of law, an increase of $20 million over FY21 enacted

House Democrats secured the following resources to support American families:

Children and Families

• Expands access to produce to 6.4 million people through $6 billion in discretionary funding for Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC)
• Provides $105.792 billion for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to ensure that 45 million people get the benefits they need and guarantees that SNAP will not run out of funding at the end of the year
• Increased funding to address maternal and infant nutrition, emerging food-related chemical and toxicological issues, drug safety oversight, and provides additional resources for overseas drug inspections, and drug and device supply chain monitoring and surveillance

Women’s Health and Rights

• $1.2 billion for maternal and child health
• $3.16 billion for mental health
• $5.5 billion for substance use treatment
• More than $400 million to address unacceptable persistent health disparities

Environmental Protections

• $1.54 billion to clean up toxic Superfund sites
• $61.8 million to address PFAS chemicals in drinking water 
• $53.2 billion to confront the climate crisis while creating good-paying jobs
• $300 million for the Electric Vehicle Fund to start the transition of the Federal vehicle fleet to electric and zero-emission vehicles
• Created a Civilian Climate Corps
• $248 million for expanded environmental justice efforts to address pollution in communities of color, including $148 million to support the incorporation of environmental justice into EPA’s and other federal agencies efforts, and $100 million for six new environmental justice grant programs designed to begin implementing environmental justice solutions in frontline and fenceline communities
• $3.23 billion for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure through the Environmental Protection Agency grants programs

You can find more information on all the House Democrats’ Appropriations packages HERE.

The House passed nine bills that fund federal departments including Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, State, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture, and Energy through 2022.

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