WASHINGTON–The first few days of the 112th Congress will be mostly pomp and pageantry, with no plans to debate any meaty legislation. But Rep. Joe Courtney says one GOP proposal on the docket–a little-noticed change to House rules that’s set for a vote on Wednesday–could have more serious implications than many hotly-debated bills. At issue are […]

WASHINGTON–In her job as Sen.-elect Richard Blumenthal’s chief of staff, Laurie Rubiner says her first challenge right out of the box will be this: helping her new boss move from a world of lawsuits and subpoenas to one of filibusters and gridlock. Laurie Rubiner: Sen-elect Blumenthal faces ‘a big transition’ Blumenthal, a Democrat elected to […]

WASHINGTON–When the University of Connecticut’s Huskies won the 2010 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament earlier this year, Rep. Joe Courtney made sure the team’s triumph didn’t go unnoticed in Washington. The basketball team “stands as a history-making organization, with 78 straight wins,” Courtney, a 2nd District Democrat, said in a speech on the House […]

WASHINGTON–As he walked to the Senate floor to cast his final votes this week, retiring Sen. Chris Dodd remarked that bills that he’d been pushing unsuccessfully for years were suddenly flying through to final passage in the waning days of this Congress. A food allergy measure. A child abuse prevention bill. A low-income housing proposal. […]

Pratt & Whitney supporters had hoped to put a quick and quiet end to the alternate engine for the Joint Strike Fighter as the 111th Congress winds down. And until Tuesday, they seemed to be on track. That’s because stop-gap spending measure that made its way through Congress this week to keep the government running […]

WASHINGTON–If you get fewer mailings next year from Rep. Rosa DeLauro touting Congress’s latest legislative achievements, don’t take it personally. Ditto if it takes longer than usual for Rep. Joe Courtney’s office to respond to a constituent inquiry. The state’s five Democratic members of the U.S. House will all be looking for ways to trim […]

WASHINGTON-Connecticut’s population has grown by nearly 5 percent over the last decade, surpassing 3.57 million residents in 2010, according to the results of the latest decennial Census released on Tuesday. The state experienced a net gain of 168,532 residents in the last ten years, growing 4.9 percent, from 3,405,565 people in 2000 to 3,574,097 this […]

Sen. Joe Lieberman isn’t often on the receiving end of gushing praise or plaudits from the rest of Connecticut’s almost all-Democratic Congressional delegation. Indeed, Lieberman, the state’s lone independent in Congress, has drawn various rebukes from his home-state colleagues, for his threats to filibuster health reform and his stand with the GOP on tax cuts. […]

WASHINGTON–The Senate voted decisively on Saturday to overturn the Pentagon’s ban on gays serving openly in the military, ending an emotionally-charged, decades-long debate over what role a person’s sexual orientation should play in their military service. Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut who led the fight to repeal the so-called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” […]

WASHINGTON-Connecticut’s congressional delegation was split over the $857 billion tax cut package that won final House approval in a midnight vote on Thursday. Reps. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, and Jim Himes, D-4th District, both supported the package, even as they expressed distaste with some key elements. Courtney said he had been torn over the measure, […]

A new showdown is set for this weekend over legislation to repeal the Pentagon’s ban on gays serving openly in the military. Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid, after saying earlier today that he didn’t forsee a vote before Christmas, turned around and scheduled a possible Saturday vote on overturning Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, as the […]

WASHINGTON–The new medical office Lawrence Cross has in mind to serve Norwalk’s neediest residents will be unusual in almost every conceivable way. For one thing, the exam rooms will be inside a van, not a bricks-and-mortar building. So one of the most important new staff members he’ll need to hire is a driver. And even […]

WASHINGTON-The omnibus budget unveiled by Senate Democrats Tuesday includes 6,600 earmarks worth an estimated $8 billion. But one in particular has caught the attention of Connecticut’s congressional delegation: a $450 million provision to fund an alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Sens. Joseph Lieberman, an independent, and Chris Dodd, a Democrat, both said […]

Is Congress back to square one when it comes to repealing the Pentagon’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy banning gays from serving openly in the military? It sure seems that way. After all, the House had already passed such a measure, with all five of Connecticut’s congressional delegation voting in favor the first time–and again […]

Republican Linda McMahon is reportedly planning a trip to Washington to meet with GOP strategists in charge of heading up their party’s 2012 Senate election efforts, yet another sign that the former WWE executive is seriously considering a second Senate campaign. Even on election night, as she conceded to Democrat Richard Blumenthal, McMahon openly invited speculation […]