Clark Invites MA-5 Health Official to State of the Union

Clark discussed with public health officials how resources from the federal American Rescue Plan helped to keep communities safe and COVID-19 contained

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Katherine Clark (MA-5) invited public health officials from across Massachusetts’ Fifth District as her virtual guests to the State of the Union address on Tuesday, March 1, 2022. She met virtually with her guests, including Natick Public Health Director Michael Boudreau and Framingham Public Health Director Alexandra DePalo, ahead of President Biden’s address to thank them for their selfless work throughout the pandemic and discuss how the American Rescue Plan’s investments in local government, COVID-19 mitigation, and public health generally helped to keep their communities protected and safe.

“Throughout the pandemic, our incredible town and city public health officials have continued to put community before self, risking their own health to protect their neighbors from COVID-19. This is an opportunity to extend my heartfelt gratitude to these officials and all our health care heroes,” said Assistant Speaker Clark. “President Biden and Congressional Democrats knew that these local officials would be on the frontlines of the crisis, and that’s why we put health care investments at the top of our agenda in Washington. Only weeks after President Biden was sworn into office, we enacted the American Rescue Plan. It has enabled our cities and towns to provide COVID-19 testing and conduct contact tracing, allowed state and local governments to hire more staff, provided vital PPE, and so much more. I am honored to invite these hometown heroes to be my virtual guests to the State of the Union to applaud their service and bring attention to their sacrifices.”

“Framingham is one of the 20 municipalities in Massachusetts that was hardest hit both by the COVID pandemic and then also in terms of accessing the vaccine,” Alexandra DePalo, Director of Public Health for the City of Framingham. “But when I think of what we’ve been able to accomplish, I really think of partnership. I think of the federal funding bringing the sort of flexibility and the opportunities for partnerships not only across public health departments in the region or within the departments in our city, but with so many health and human service organizations, non-profits, and small community-based organizations. Whether it's around vaccine clinics or testing or contact tracing, none of us can do this alone and I’m so grateful for the support Framingham has received.”
The American Rescue Plan provided:

• $350 billion to states, territories, Tribes, and local governments:
• MA received a total of $8.1 billion: $4.5 billion to state government and $3.6 billion to local governments
• Funds could be used for responding to the public health emergency, to offset revenue losses, bolster economic recovery, and provide premium pay for essential workers.
• $10 billion for a Critical Infrastructure Projects program to help states, territories, and Tribal governments carry out critical capital projects directly enabling work, education, and health monitoring, including remote options, in response to COVID-19.
• $7.6 billion for public health departments to hire 100,000 full-time employees into the public health workforce.
• These positions include contact tracers, social support specialists, community health workers, public health nurses, epidemiologists, lab personnel, and communications.
• Funds were directed toward PPE, technology, data management, supplies, and reporting.

In addition to officials from Framingham and Natick, public health directors from Revere, Winchester, Medford, Cambridge, Arlington, Winthrop, Watertown, Lincoln, Lexington, Sherborn, Sudbury, and Southborough also participated in the virtual call.

A photo from the virtual meeting can be found attached.

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