Senators who are still on the fence about the $900 billion tax cut package, brokered last week by the White House and Senate Republicans, will get a little extra time to make up their minds today. At 3 p.m. today, the Senate started what would normally be a 15-minute vote on the measure. But leaders […]

WASHINGTON–The bare-bones spending bill now moving through Congress will do little to help states like Connecticut close their gaping budget holes. That measure, which passed the House last week, freezes discretionary federal spending at 2010 levels through the end of fiscal year 2011. And it’s $46 billion less than President Barack Obama had been seeking […]

WASHINGTON–Home health care agencies in Connecticut are bracing for steep Medicare payment cuts that they say could seriously hamper their ability to serve the state’s neediest patients. Despite a last-minute plea from Connecticut’s congressional delegation, Medicare officials are preparing to impose a nearly 6 percent cut on state providers who deliver a gamut of in-home […]

WASHINGTON–In a surprising bit of brinksmanship, House Democrats moved Thursday to block consideration of the sweeping tax cut agreement brokered earlier this week by the White House and top congressional Republicans. “There’s a strong desire among the members of the House of Representatives to put their own imprimatur on this very important piece of legislation,” […]

WASHINGTON–Efforts to repeal the Pentagon’s ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military hit a fresh Republican blockade in the Senate Thursday but proponents, including Sen. Joseph Lieberman, say they have a fall-back plan that could revive the bill before the end of the lame-duck session. In a surprising and dramatic Senate vote, supporters of repealing […]

Richard Blumenthal announced his first hire for his U.S. Senate office on Wednesday, tapping Laurie Rubiner, an expert in health and women’s issues, to be his chief of staff. Rubiner is a former aide to ex-Sens. Hillary Clinton, a Democrat from New York, and the late John Chafee, a moderate Republican from Rhode Island. Between […]

The Senate on Wednesday passed a one-year patch to avoid a looming 25 percent cut to physician reimbursements for Medicare. The payment reduction is set to take effect on Jan. 1, so lawmakers must deal with the issue before they break for the holidays. The Senate bill still has to win House approval. And it […]

WASHINGTON–Among Connecticut’s congressional delegation, Rep. John Larson has the biggest political pivot to make as his party prepares to cede power to a new Republican majority. The 1st District Democrat may have sailed to a seventh term in the House and held on to his leadership job as the Democratic Caucus Chairman. But he will […]

WASHINGTON–Connecticut’s congressional delegation appeared deeply split over the $900 billion tax cut deal that President Barack Obama brokered with top Republicans Monday night. Among the state’s seven members of Congress, only two said on Tuesday they would cast a “yes” vote on the package: Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District, and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent who […]

The battle over the alternate engine for the Joint Strike Fighter has taken yet another twist. Rep. John Larson is pushing two of his Democratic colleagues, those in charge of crafting the all-important stop-gap spending bill to keep the government running, to add language that will give the Defense Department “flexibility” to kill the program. Larson’s […]

The Senate’s Saturday showdown over renewing the Bush-era tax cuts unfolded with no surprises, except perhaps that the chamber actually held such a rare weekend session. Democrats failed to get the 60 votes needed to end the debate on their two tax cut proposals-one to renew only the tax cuts for those making under $250,000 […]

If there’s one thing Linda McMahon’s U.S. Senate bid showed, it’s that the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment knows how to set a budget and stick to it. A new campaign finance report filed this week shows that McMahon came in just under her self-imposed $50 million spending cap; she had shelled out $49.57 […]

Rep. Rosa DeLauro may have fewer coveted committee posts to dole out in the next Congress, but she’ll still be at the head of the table when it comes to making those decisions. In an internal House leadership election Thursday, DeLauro held on to her post as co-chair of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, […]

WASHINGTON–The sour economy was a top issue when Dan Malloy and other newly elected governors met with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden at the Blair House on Thursday. Malloy was part of a bipartisan group of about two dozen new governors to attend the session, a lunch held at the president’s official […]

WASHINGTON–The Obama Administration’s top health officials are preparing a dossier of documents to help Connecticut’s Gov.-elect Dan Malloy implement the federal health care reform law. And as newly-elected Republican governors are looking for ways to block or limit the federal law in their states, Malloy, a Democrat, said he will take the opposite approach. During […]