During the Senate debate Thursday on a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill, Sen. Richard Blumenthal used a glass of milk as a prop to try to bring attention to a new compromise that might end a deadlock over the dairy program that has stalled a massive farm bill. Blumenthal, D-Conn., said a deal has been cut to keep the current dairy subsidy program while phasing in a new program that would replace those subsides with an insurance plan.
Ana Radelat
Ana has written about politics and policy in Washington, D.C.. for Gannett, Thompson Reuters and UPI. She was a special correspondent for the Miami Herald, and a regular contributor to The New York TImes, Advertising Age and several other publications. She has also worked in broadcast journalism, for CNN and several local NPR stations. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Journalism.
Posted inEducation
Gray, others, urged by Obama to find ways to boost college enrollments
With his education agenda stalled in Congress, President Obama on Thursday urged Gregory W. Gray, Connecticut’s President of the Board of Regents for Higher Education, and dozens of other university presidents to share each other’s methods of expanding access to higher education. “More than ever a college degree is the surest path to a stable middle class life,” Obama said at a White House conference on opening the door to college for more students, especially low-income youths.
Posted inNews
Connecticut credit card holders most likely to complain about Citibank
Connecticut ranks seventh in the nation when it comes to per capita complaints about credit card bills, says a new report by ConnPIRG, a consumer advocacy group. Citibank is the lending institution most often cited in complaints from Connecticut cardholders, ConnPIRG said. But nationally, Capital One was the most complained-about credit card issuer by total number of complaints, followed by Citibank, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase.
Posted inNews
Connecticut dairy farmers at center of fight over farm bill (updated)
Washington — Rep. Joe Courtney and the state’s dairy farmers are in a pitched battle with the most powerful member of the House of Representatives, Speaker John Boehner, a fight that has stalled the farm bill and whose outcome is likely to affect the price of milk across the country. “Speaker Boehner, in my opinion, is interjecting his own special interests agenda to the detriment of the farm industry and rural American as a whole,” Courtney said.
Posted inPolitics
Connecticut delegation misses few votes
Washington — Woody Allen famously said, “Showing up is half the battle,” and it seems that many lawmakers, including those representing Connecticut, have taken that advice to heart.
Posted inPolitics
Wash Post says Blumenthal was a ‘hunk’
Washington — Move over Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District, who has repeatedly been on The Hill’s “most beautiful list.” The new writers of the Washington Post’s Reliable Sources column have discovered a decades-old photo of Sen. Richard Blumenthal that proves he was (and maybe still is?) a hunk.
Posted inPolitics
Votes of CT senators rarely deviate from party position
Washington — During Congress’ debate on the farm bill last summer, Orange, Conn.-based Pez and other Connecticut candymakers looked for an opportunity to overhaul the federal sugar program so prices for the sweetener would fall. They lobbied for weeks on Capitol Hill for an amendment to the farm bill that would reform the Department of Agriculture sugar program, which props up U.S. sugar prices.
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal’s Metro-North crusade: Proper (& political?)
Washington — Reports of the resignation of Metro -North President Howard Permut may indicate that Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal has drawn blood in his battle against the commuter railway.
Posted inUncategorized
Connecticut woman helps Obama push renewal of unemployment benefits
In his pitch Tuesday to pressure Congress to approve the extension of federal unemployment benefits, President Obama will be introduced by Katherine Hackett of Moodus. Hackett wrote to Obama telling him she would be affected by the failure of Congress to extend unemployment insurance. She said the payments she receives under the benefit covers her […]
Posted inNews
Feds give Newtown school district money, but not to build a new elementary school
The U.S. Department of Education announced Monday it is awarding an additional $1.9 million to the Newtown Public School District to help it continue to recover from the tragic shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012. But the money, from the Education Department’s Project School Emergency Response to Violence (SERV) program and a […]
Posted inNews
CT delegation usually votes party line, except on local issues
Go to bottom of the story for an interactive graphic. Washington — When Congress was debating a bill last summer that would allow the federal government to sell billions of cubic feet of underground helium, Connecticut’s 5th District representative, Elizabeth Esty, took to the House floor to promote an item opposed by most other Democrats. A […]
Posted inNews
Chris Murphy’s winding road to Kiev
Washington – Chris Murphy followed a twisting road to Kiev. The early political career of Connecticut’s junior senator focused on education and health care. When he challenged a 12-term GOP incumbent to win a House seat in 2006, the hot issue was the Iraq War; but Murphy took on Rep. Nancy Johnson over the prescription […]
Posted inNews
With gridlock in D.C., some question worth of lobbyists
Washington — For years, the University of Hartford employed a Washington lobbyist to help the school tap federal funds, including $2 million to help build a new performing arts center. “For every dollar we spent (on lobbying), we got about $8 back,” said John Carson, vice president of university relations. But the university ended its relationship […]
Posted inNews
Connecticut companies spent millions lobbying in Washington this year
Washington – To some Connecticut companies, making sure nothing happens in Washington is just as important as making sure something does. Take Guilford-based American Cruise Lines, for example. It spent $40,000 last year lobbying Congress not to restore the famous Delta Queen riverboat’s right to navigate the Mississippi River. Its investment in preventing congressional action was apparently […]
Posted inNews
Blumenthal rails against Bills vs. Dolphins blackout
The blackout of the Buffalo Bills-Miami Dolphins game Sunday prompted Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., to press his campaign to end the blackout of sports games on television. In a joint press conference Friday with Rep. Brian Higgins, a Democrat who represents Buffalo, N.Y., in Congress, Blumenthal said an “outdated, really dinosaur” federal law from the […]