{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.king.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/collins-king-announce-over-11-million-to-protect-children-from-lead-poisoning", "Collins, King Announce Over $11 Million to Protect Children From Lead Poisoning", "2024-10-09", "2024", "2024-10", "Independent", "Senate", "ME", "Angus S. King, Jr.", "K000383", "www.king.senate.gov", "angusking", "https://www.king.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/table", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Angus King (I-Maine) announced today that the cities of Portland and Lewiston have been awarded grant funding to help protect children from lead poisoning. The Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction (LHR) grant program awards, totaling $11,117,960, will help improve the health of Maine communities by fixing older housing and preserving affordable housing units that pose a lead hazard \u2014 such as the use of lead paint, more common in homes built before 1960. Additionally, this grant targets housing where children less than six years of age live.\n\n\u201cThe majority of Maine\u2019s housing stock was built prior to 1978, the year that lead-based paint was banned, which has resulted in our state having one of the highest levels of lead paint contamination in the country,\u201d said Senator Collins. \u201cThis federal investment in lead hazard abatement will increase the safety of housing for families in Portland and Lewiston, helping to further alleviate this public health threat.\u201d\n\n\u201cLead exposure and poisoning can pose extreme health risks, especially for young children who are still growing and developing,\u201d said Senator King. \u201cEven small amounts of lead from paint chips and flakes can build up in the body and cause serious health problems. Families should be focused on helping their children grow and thrive, not worried about whether or not their house is hazardous. This robust funding will help more Maine families and children have a healthy and safe place to call home.\u201d\n\nThe Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction program is funded through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In addition to the LHR program, HUD also offers the Healthy Homes Supplemental funding that is available to further bolster lead-based paint hazard prevention and control.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:57:20Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.king.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/collins-king-announce-over-11-million-to-protect-children-from-lead-poisoning"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9361561387777328, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}