Margaret Flinter, senior vice president of the Middletown-based Community Health Center, testified in Washington today about the importance of federal funding for such local health clinics. She said a $7 million federal investment is helping her Middletown facility double its capacity, creating new health care and construction jobs in that community, not to mention increasing […]

WASHINGTON–In another flashpoint over implementation of federal health reform, insurance brokers are trying to undo a regulation that, they say, has already led to deep cuts in the commissions they earn from selling health care policies. The issue pits brokers against consumer groups, with state insurance commissioners split on the subject. Connecticut’s new insurance commissioner, […]

WASHINGTON–Connecticut’s public campaign financing program will be on trial–indirectly, anyway–before the U.S. Supreme Court today, when the justices will hear oral arguments in an Arizona case to determine whether supplemental grants, triggered by an opponent’s spending are constitutional. Such payments were doled out to both Democrat Dannel Malloy and Republican Michael C. Fedele during Connecticut’s […]

WASHINGTON–An obviously divided Supreme Court probed the constitutionality of Arizona’s public campaign finance system on Monday, considering a case that will have ripple effects in Connecticut and other states that have enacted similar laws. The nine justices appeared to be narrowly split over the question of whether supplemental public financing grants for participating candidates–triggered when […]

WASHINGTON–The Department of Defense today issued a stop-work order on production of the Joint Strike Fighter’s alternate engine, knocking out the rival to Connecticut-based Pratt & Whitney, which makes the military fighter plane’s main engine. But even as Connecticut lawmakers applauded the Pentagon’s move, GE and Rolls Royce, which are developing the alternate engine, vowed […]

WASHINGTON–In 2009, Bolton and Vernon were moving full speed ahead on a vital $25 million sewer project to replace inadequate septic systems serving the area’s residents. But as construction was about to start, local officials got bad news from Washington: $2 million in federal aid was suddenly being yanked. It wasn’t because federal officials questioned […]

Even as President Barack Obama opened up a new military campaign in Libya this week, Rep. Chris Murphy and other House Democrats are calling on him to stick to his pledge to end the war in Afghanistan-and soon. Obama has long vowed to begin drawing down U.S. troops from Afghanistan this summer. But just in […]

While Connecticut lawmakers attended a birthday party with cake and testimonials, Congressional Republicans used Wednesday’s one-year anniversary of the health care reform law to tout their continued attacks on the measure–from full repeal to targeted defunding efforts. “In the coming weeks, you’ll see more votes and more hearings in the House to take this law […]

Politically speaking, the world seemed to be divided into two warring camps on Wednesday, which marked the one-year anniversary of the health reform law’s passage. On one side, Democrats devoted the day to tout the sweeping overhaul, and on the other, Republicans spent the day blasting it. Connecticut’s independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman chose none of […]

WASHINGTON–Social Security reform is suddenly all the rage on Capitol Hill. But lawmakers couldn’t be discussing the politically-volatile issue in more starkly different terms. “The Social Security system is scheduled to run out of money, and that would lead to enormous cuts” in benefits, warned Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut independent. “So the sooner we […]

WASHINGTON–Members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation voiced deeply divergent views about the U.S. military role in Libya, as a fierce campaign against Col. Muammar el-Quaddafi’s forces continued to unfold. Some Democrats raised sharp questions about the scope of U.S. involvement in the military effort, as well as concerns about the White House’s lack of consultation with […]

It seems that you can’t take the attorney general out of Richard Blumenthal. On Monday, the freshman Democratic senator jumped on news that AT&T would purchase T-Mobile, creating the largest company in the wireless carrier market and raising significant anti-trust concerns. Blumenthal, who served as Connecticut’s AG for two decades before winning election to the […]

With Congress set to take a one-week recess, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, joined the House Democratic Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi on a trip to Italy. Pelosi was invited by the President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Gianfranco Fini, “to mark the 150th anniversary of Italian unification,” according a release from the California Democrat’s […]

Rep. John Larson urged President Barack Obama to consult with Congress before taking any military action in Libya. The 1st District Democrat, a strong and early opponent of the Iraq war, said that while he applauded Obama for working with the international community to respond to the government crackdown in Libya, U.S. forces shouldn’t get […]

WASHINGTON–Gov. Dannel Malloy still has his sights on winning an extra $100 million in federal funds for the state’s high-speed rail line. But on Thursday he was scrambling to make sure Connecticut didn’t lose millions of dollars in federal aid for a related rail project now in the design phase. At a meeting with Transportation […]