WASHINGTON–The Supreme Court waded into the political and environmental thicket of global warming Tuesday, in a case that will determine whether Connecticut and other states can force power plants to reduce their heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions. The line of questioning from the justices did not point to any easy conclusions about how they might rule […]

WASHINGTON–The smoldering debate over climate change will move from Congress to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, when the justices take up a high-profile Connecticut case to determine whether states have the power to curb polluting greenhouse gases. Democrat Richard Blumenthal brought the suit, along with a handful of other state attorneys general, in a 2004 […]

Democrats were enthusiastic about President Barack Obama’s call for tax reform last week, part of his speech addressing the nation’s annual deficits and debt. But Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, has at least one condition: General Electric’s chief executive Jeffrey Immelt should not have Obama’s ear when it comes to figuring out which special-interest tax […]

WASHINGTON–Connecticut lawmakers are embracing President Barack Obama’s call on Wednesday for a mix of spending cuts, tax increases, and entitlement reform to reduce the nation’s annual deficits, saying Obama put forward an aggressive, fair plan. And they welcomed the President’s entry into a debate that, until now, has been largely dominated by House Republicans. But […]

WASHINGTON–While some lawmakers would rather sidestep the emerging high-stakes debate over reducing the nation’s long-term debt, Sen. Joseph Lieberman wants to be center stage in this brewing battle. But he’s been having a hard time inserting himself into the political mix–at least until now. On Thursday, Lieberman added his name–and his presence at a press […]

When Rep. John Larson introduced his public financing campaign bill earlier this month, he blasted the current chase for campaign cash as a corrupting and all-consuming. “Especially in the House, the moment you’re elected, you spend the rest of your time on the phone dialing for dollars, instead of being in the pursuit of the […]

Only two of Connecticut’s U.S. House members-Reps. Joe Courtney and Jim Himes–voted “yes” on the fiscal year 2011 spending deal hashed out between House Republicans, Senate Democrats, and the White House last week. That plan, which averted a government shutdown, would cut $38 billion from current year federal operations. Himes, D-4th District, and Courtney, D-2nd […]

WASHINGTON–The federal spending deal, reached by top congressional negotiators on Friday to avert a government shutdown, would shrink emergency heating assistance for the poor. It would slash high-speed rail funding. And it would trim the Army Corps of Engineer’s budget, jeopardizing dredging projects in Long Island Sound. That’s the bad news for Connecticut, spelled out […]

There was so much attention paid in the 2010 Senate contest to Republican Linda McMahon’s profligate spending, that we somehow missed this little gem: a $97 expenditure by businessman Merrick Alpert, an unsuccessful contender in the race, on a “Chicken costume.” What did Alpert need a chicken costume for? Well, it has to do with […]

The House soundly rejected a jobs-related bill sponsored by Rep. Chris Murphy, D-5th District, on Wednesday. It didn’t even really get a full-fledged vote. Instead, Republicans squashed it in a procedural motion. And that’s about as good as it’s going to get, now that Murphy and the rest of Connecticut’s U.S. House delegation is in […]

WASHINGTON–Rep. John Larson has revved up his alliance with oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens and House Republicans in a push to make natural gas a more dominate fuel–replacing traditional gasoline–in America’s transportation sector. This week, Larson will join Pickens–an Oklahoma native who made his fortune in the oil and gas industry–to promote legislation that would […]

As the clock ticked down to a federal government shutdown on Friday, congressional Democrats were infuriated that the debate had turned to social policy provisions proposed by the GOP, most of which were eventually jettisoned in the final deal. But Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, was thrilled that at least one of those survived-a […]

It’s not clear how Connecticut’s congressional delegation will vote on the last-minute spending agreement hashed out on Friday night, an hour or so before the federal government would have shuttered if the budget stalemate hadn’t been broken. But only Rep. John Larson, D-1st District, voted “no” at 12:40 Saturday morning, when the House took up […]

The Department of Transportation released $40 million in high-speed rail funding to Connecticut Friday morning, just before hitting a deadline when the planned-on funding could have been taken back. Over the last couple of weeks, Connecticut and federal officials worked with Amtrak to iron out some last-minute glitches that seemed to put the promised funds-allocated […]

WASHINGTON–Democrat Richard Blumenthal is a freshman senator at the bottom of the Senate’s seniority ladder, without a seat on either the spending or budget committees. But suddenly, an issue that Blumenthal has been the most vocal about since joining the Senate–abortion–appears to be at the crux of the fight over the 2011 federal budget. And […]