Following Advocacy from Pressley, MA Lawmakers, HHS Announced Nearly $159M in Heating Assistance Funding for Massachusetts

Photos (Dropbox)

DORCHESTER – Yesterday, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) joined Vice President Kamala D. Harris and Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MA) at the Sheet Metal Workers Local 17 in Dorchester to discuss the Inflation Reduction Act and promote federal efforts that will support fuel assistance, lower home energy costs for Massachusetts families, and improve access to affordable and efficient clean energy home upgrades across the country.

Earlier yesterday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that Massachusetts has been awarded $158.9 million in federal funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance program (LIHEAP), including $238,828 for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.

The federal funding was released after Rep. Pressley and Senator Markey, along with Rep. Lori Trahan and their colleagues in the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation, wrote to HHS urging it to expedite the release of LIHEAP funding for this winter.

“I was proud to welcome Vice President Harris back to Dorchester to celebrate these federal funds with Senator Markey, Mayor Wu, and our siblings in the labor movement,” said Rep. Pressley. “With the cold weather rolling in, families across the Massachusetts Seventh need fuel assistance to keep their families safe. I am thankful to our partners in the delegation for their partnership in advocating for these LIHEAP funds and for the Biden-Harris Administration for delivering. I look forward to continuing to bring home much-needed federal resources to lower costs for our communities and help families make ends meet.”

“I was proud to welcome our history-making Vice President Kamala Harris to the Commonwealth yesterday as we made history yet again by announcing $300 million in new funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to help families across the state pay for their energy bills,” said Senator Edward J. Markey. “With this funding to buy and install new energy-efficient appliances, families can live in homes that are healthy for them, for the climate, and for their finances. Together, we can ensure that everyone—no matter their ZIP code—benefits from the environmental, economic, and health justice that comes from clean energy and climate action.”

View photos from the event here.

Today’s event marks the seventh time Rep. Pressley has hosted Biden-Harris Administration officials in Massachusetts.

• On July 15, 2022, Rep. Pressley joined First Lady Dr. Jill Biden at Home Base in Charlestown to visit military families, veterans, servicemembers, and clinicians as part of the White House’s Joining Forces initiative.

• On July 16, 2022, Rep. Pressley and Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) joined First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh in a visit to a job training program at the Eversource Station 99 to highlight Bunker Hill Community College’s (BHCC) partnership with Eversource and Utility Workers Union of America to provide job training opportunities to BHCC students.

• On August 4, 2022, Rep. Pressley joined Vice President Kamala Harris at the IBEW Local 103 in Dorchester for a roundtable with Massachusetts state legislators and local leaders to discuss the fight to protect reproductive rights.

• On September 4, 2022, Rep. Pressley hosted U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra at the Codman Square Health Center in Dorchester for a convening on their work to address the Black maternal health crisis and the criminalization of abortion care in states across the nation.

• On Labor Day, September 5, 2022, Rep. Pressley joined Vice President Kamala Harris for a roundtable discussion to celebrate the collective power of organized labor.

• On September 12, 2022, Rep. Pressley joined President Joe Biden in Boston for his remarks on the Cancer Moonshot initiative and to celebrate $62 million in new federal funding for Logan Airport.

• On October 14, 2022, Rep. Pressley  and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) joined Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona at the Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology (BFIT) to meet students training for careers in new technologies and to discuss the Biden-Harris administration’s Economic Blueprint and its focus on rebuilding a more innovative, resilient and equitable economy.

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