WASHINGTON — Rep. Joe Courtney will not run for the U.S. Senate, forgoing what is sure to be an expensive and hard-fought contest to succeed the retiring Sen. Joe Lieberman in 2012. The 2nd District congressman announced Monday that he decided to stay in the House, where he and other Democrats, now in the minority […]

WASHINGTON–The Obama Administration has re-jiggered its controversial Race to the Top program, hoping to unleash a new wave of education reform at the local level by dangling federal grants in front of individual school districts. The White House has requested $900 million for a third Race to the Top competition in fiscal year 2012. Unlike […]

WASHINGTON–One of the big winners in the White House’s budget blueprint for 2012 is Electric Boat, which stands to benefit from a $4.7 billion request for the Navy’s Virginia class submarines. That funding seeks to ensure that Electric Boat can proceed with plans to increase production from one Virginia class submarine a year to two. […]

Could Connecticut’s Democratic governor and congressional delegation find some advantage in the Republican sweep that ushered in new GOP leaders across the country? They’re trying, that’s for sure. In the wake of a decision by Florida Gov. Rick Scott rejecting federal high-speed rail funds, Connecticut lawmakers have asked Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to send some […]

The Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday morning approved the nomination of Connecticut’s Susan L. Carney to be a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. Carney is now deputy general counsel at Yale. The committee tally was 16 in favor, two against. The two “no” votes were from Sens. Jeff Sessions, […]

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, suffered a significant defeat yesterday when 110 members of his own party joined with 123 Democrats to kill $450 million in funding for the alternate engine, which would create jobs in his home state of Ohio. But if Boehner was flummoxed or irritated by the vote, he didn’t show it […]

Don’t look for Sen. Richard Blumenthal to be on the frontlines of entitlement reform. Today, the Democrat from Connecticut announced that he was joining the “Defending Social Security Caucus,” a new group that formed earlier this year by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. “As it becomes increasingly clear that some in Congress propose cutting or eliminating […]

WASHINGTON–Amid intense political pressure to slash federal spending, the House voted Wednesday to nix $450 million in funding for an alternate engine for the Joint Strike Fighter, handing a major victory to Connecticut-based Pratt & Whitney. By a vote of 233-to-198, the House adopted an amendment–backed by veteran Democrat Rep. John Larson and sophomore Republican […]

WASHINGTON–Connecticut’s House Democrats were troubled enough when Republicans last week proposed slashing $390 million from an emergency fund to help the poor with home heating costs. Then came the announcement that President Barack Obama was calling for even deeper cuts to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP. The White House said Monday […]

WASHINGTON–Even as Gov. Dannel P. Malloy finalizes his proposal to close next year’s projected $3.67 billion budget deficit, lawmakers in Washington might open a new hole in the state’s current fiscal blueprint. The House is poised to take up a bill this week that would slash domestic spending by $100 billion, compared to the president’s […]

Ex-Sen. Chris Dodd may still be job hunting, but one of his top aides, Bryan DeAngelis, has landed a plum gig with a top political PR firm. DeAngelis served as Dodd’s communications director until the 30-year veteran’s very last day in office-and he was even fielding press calls for the senator last week, amid reports […]

WASHINGTON–Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday that he would use “all available legal options” to kill the alternate engine for the Joint Strike Fighter, unless Congress moves definitively to save the program in the next few weeks. Gates called the extra engine, in development by General Electric and Rolls Royce, “an unnecessary and extravagant expense, […]

WASHINGTON–No one would dispute that ex-Sen. Chris Dodd has a strong stage presence, at least when it comes to political theater. Now, it seems, he’s auditioning for a different role, one in which he would be Hollywood’s chief advocate in Washington and around the globe. Dodd, who retired last month after three decades in the […]

WASHINGTON–Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday that the Obama Administration’s push for a national high-speed rail network could directly benefit a proposed $1 billion line from New Haven to Springfield. In a briefing with regional reporters, LaHood also reiterated the president’s commitment to pushing for a transportation “infrastructure bank,” an idea long championed by Rep. […]

Ex-Sen. Chris Dodd, who retired earlier this year after 30 years in the Senate, is reportedly in talks with the Motion Picture Association of America to become the group’s top lobbyist. “It’s not a done deal, but he’s the only one in negotiations,” an unnamed source told Politico’s Mike Allen. Dodd was not immediately available […]