NEHA NEWS
Prior to meeting with congressional representatives, we led an orientation to get everyone prepared and ready for their visits.
Virginia to meet with nine congressional oces. Our one-person delegations from Alabama and Colorado met with five congressio- nal oces each, and the one-person delegation from Illinois met with six oces. Our two-person Florida delegation met with eight oces and the three-person delegation from New Jersey met with eight oces as well. Republican and Democratic oces were supportive of environ- mental health. Every oce saw the need to promote food safety, eliminate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water, maintain properly working septic systems, and ensure wildfire smoke does not increase respiratory ailments. There was, how- ever, some disagreement on the levels of federal funding to sup- port such activities. These meetings included visits to the oces of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), Senator Katie Britt (R-AL), Senator John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Senator Michael Bennett (D-CO), Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ). Our CEO Dr. David Dyjack met with Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), whom he invited to speak at the our 2024 AEC & Exhi- bition in Pittsburgh. We also met with Representative Bob Ader- holt (R-AL), the Subcommittee Appropriation chair for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as well as Represen- tative Dr. Marianne Miller-Meeks (R-IA), a former public health commissioner for Iowa. Participants agreed on how supportive many of the oces were regarding environmental health, both in their states and at the national level. NEHA First Vice-President Larry Ramdin met with the sta of Senator Ed Markley (D-MA) and highlighted climate change. Ramdin stated, “NEHA has been talking about climate change for the past 20 years. I let him know that for insight into climate change and environmental health, he should talk to us.” From some of our meetings, we found that Representative Lau- ren Underwood (D-IL) has a good understanding of public and environmental health, in part due to her formal work as a nurse. Furthermore, Representative Beth Van Dyne (R-NY), a former Southwest director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
One of our delegations on Capitol Hill ready to meet their congressional members. All Hill Day photos courtesy of NEHA sta.
Develoment (HUD), was interested in curent healthy housing poli- cies from HUD. We shared the following requests with Congress: • The importance of environmental health and the environmental health workforce to the nation and each state. We also empha- sized the importance of loan forgiveness for the environmental health workforce. • The value of federal support to state, territorial, local, and tribal environmental health workforces through funding of the Cen- ters for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Cen- ter for Environmental Health (NCEH). Congress should provide at least $426 million to NCEH to ensure all if its programs are adequately funded. • The value of federal support of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). Congress should provide $100 million for ATSDR in the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill for fiscal year (FY) 2025. • The value of federal support for food safety programs at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and to appropriate at least $1,250 million in FY 2025 toward the food safety needs of FDA. Based on the success of this year’s Hill Day, we are planning to host on another in-person Hill Day for members in March 2026. Aliates should begin to plan on sending a delegation to meet with their members of Congress on the importance of environ- mental health. For more information regarding our Hill Day, contact Govern- ment Aairs Director Doug Farquhar. You can also check out all the work being done in our Government Aairs program at www. neha.org/advocacy.
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June 2024 • Journal of Environmental Health
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