President Barack Obama officially said Connecticut’s winter storms were terrible–a disaster in fact. In signing an official “disaster declaration” for the state, the president cleared the way for the state to get federal funds to defray the costs of local and state recovery efforts. Here’s a snippet from Thursday’s White House release: “The President today […]

Rep. Chris Murphy wrote a letter to the CEOs of five major oil companies Friday, asking them to chip in for the heating bills of Connecticut’s low-income residents. Murphy’s gambit comes amid news that Operation Fuel, a Bloomfield-based nonprofit charity, has run out of money for its heating assistance program and stopped accepting applications from […]

As any good Irish pol would want to do, Gov. Dannel Malloy had been set to serve as the Grand Marshal of New London St. Patrick’s Day parade. But now he’s handing over those duties to Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman so he can go back to Washington for another round of lobbying White House officials. […]

Almost the entire Connecticut delegation voted in favor of a temporary spending bill to keep the federal government running for two more weeks, giving lawmakers more time to negotiate a longer-term bill for fiscal year 2011. Both Sens. Joe Lieberman, an independent, and Democrat Richard Blumenthal voted yes, as did 4 of the state’s 5 […]

WASHINGTON–The state of Connecticut has had a lobbyist in Washington for years. But she hasn’t exactly had a high-profile on Capitol Hill. “I very briefly met a woman who was [former Gov. Jodi] Rell’s person, but I never got to know her at all,” said Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District. “There was very little interaction […]

Sen. John Kerry caused a stir with recent comments suggesting that another round of base closings might be in the offing by 2015 or so. The Naval Submarine Base in Groton barely survived the last round in 2005, so the panic in some corners of Connecticut was palpable. But Rep. Joe Courtney said no such […]

WASHINGTON–Sure, Rep. Jim Himes is a Harvard graduate, a Rhodes scholar, and one-time investment banker who made millions at Goldman Sachs. But he’s no match for Watson, the IBM supercomputer who last week made news by winning Jeopardy! against the TV game show’s two most venerable contestants. On Monday night, Himes, D-4th District, and four […]

WASHINGTON–Former Sen. Chris Dodd has officially been tapped as the next chief executive officer of the Motion Picture Association of America, making him the face of Hollywood in Washington. The job, which reportedly comes with a $1.5 million annual paycheck, would put Dodd in charge of a high-profile Washington trade association. The MPAA spent $1.66 […]

WASHINGTON–How does the percolating showdown over federal spending compare to the one in 1995, which resulted in a government shutdown? The fiscal problems are worse, the proposed solutions less sweeping–and the outcome is similarly unpredictable and volatile. That’s the assessment, at least, from two former Connecticut lawmakers–one Republican and one Democrat–who served during that 1995 […]

WASHINGTON–Gov. Dannel P. Malloy made an in-person pitch to top White House officials Friday for federal help with two major state projects: a $1 billion high-speed rail line and the planned expansion of the UConn Health Center’s John Dempsey Hospital. On the high-speed rail line, which would run from New Haven through Hartford to Springfield, […]

Sen. Joe Lieberman isn’t exactly a military dove when it comes to support for the current U.S. military campaigns in Iraq or Afghanistan. But apparently a military commander in Afghanistan, three-star Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, still thought Lieberman needed to be targeted with a sophisticated “psychological operations” campaign, aimed at manipulating U.S. policymakers into providing […]

Gov. Dannel Malloy is headed to Washington again. He’s one of a dozen or so Democratic governors who’ve been invited to the White House to talk to President Barack Obama about jobs and the economy. The White House said the discussions will focus on “ways Washington and the states can work together to grow the […]

Washington has delivered some big wins to Pratt & Whitney this month. The Pentagon announced today that it would award a $35 billion tanker contract to Boeing, with Pratt set to supply parts and two engines for each of the 179 planes. The engines will be assembled in Middletown, to the delight of the Connecticut […]

WASHINGTON–At first blush, it would seem the stars have finally aligned for a long-stalled bill creating a national “Infrastructure Bank,” a proposal pushed for years by top Connecticut lawmakers. The idea has gained prominence at a time when available federal transportation funds are far short of the nation’s needs, and lawmakers are looking for new […]

WASHINGTON–Rep. Chris Murphy is drafting a bill that will delve into complex constitutional issues, spotlight judicial ethics, and rev up liberal activists key to his Senate aspirations. When Congress returns from its week-long President’s Day recess, the 5th District Democrat says he will introduce legislation cracking down on what critics say are possible conflicts of […]