The House gave final approval to a long-delayed $26.1 billion emergency aid package for cash-strapped states on Tuesday. Connecticut officials had been anxious over the fate of the legislation, which will send an estimated $309 million to the state to help stave off teacher lays offs and cuts to Medicaid, the health care safety net […]

SIMSBURY-The Republican women’s “wine tasting social and tea cup auction” in this affluent town was not exactly the subdued affair one might expect, thanks to the volatile Republican Senate contest. Front-runner Linda McMahon arrived first, with a camera crew from ABC’s Nightline in tow, recording her last weekend on the campaign trail before Tuesday’s primary. […]

If Democrats in Washington are getting nervous about Richard Blumenthal’s shrinking lead in Connecticut Senate contest, they’re putting on a good game face for now. Blumenthal’s edge over rival Linda McMahon, the GOP-endorsed nominee who still faces a primary next week, has inched down steadily in recent months, from a 25-point lead in May to […]

WASHINGTON-The U. S. Senate moved forward on a $26.1 billion emergency aid package for cash-strapped states on Wednesday, which could help Connecticut officials preserve teacher jobs and avoid cuts to health care services for the poor. Failure to pass the bill would put a $376 million hole in this year’s state budget. Although the measure […]

WASHINGTON-Sen. Chris Dodd’s presidential ambitions were snuffed out more than two years ago, but his campaign debt is alive and well. The most recent report for Dodd’s otherwise moribund presidential committee, Chris Dodd for President Inc., shows that he still has about $260,000 in unpaid bills, racked up during his 2008 White House bid. So […]

WASHINGTON-When Anthem Blue Cross tried to raise health insurance premiums in California by 39 percent this year, the move became a rallying point for proponents of health care reform legislation, and the landmark bill won final passage soon after. So what will the health care reform bill actually do about double-digit premium hikes? The answer […]

WASHINGTON-Connecticut’s Insurance Department was portrayed as something of a toothless tiger in a recent report that said regulators approved nearly every premium increase sought by health insurers in recent years. State Insurance Commissioner Thomas Sullivan vigorously defended his agency’s work, but he’s also hoping the new federal health care reform bill will enhance his power […]

Rep. Jim Himes, the 4th District freshman Democrat, says he’s found a little extra fat in the federal agriculture budget, about $470 million that Congress could trim to demonstrate fiscal austerity. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District and chair of the powerful spending panel that divvies up agriculture funds, is less than enthusiastic about this latest […]

WASHINGTON–Rep. Jim Himes eagerly touts his voting score, as tallied by the Washington Post website, as evidence of the independent streak he’s showing in Washington. “Your research will indicate that I have the most independent voting record, not just in Connecticut but in New England,” Himes said in a recent interview. And indeed, while the […]

WASHINGTON-Congress has squashed hopes for a $10 billion rescue fund to save teacher jobs. Emergency Medicaid funding for the states is teetering on a political cliff. And the talk of extending health insurance subsidies for laid-off workers has gone quiet. As Congress inches toward a five-week August recess without passing any of these funding measures, […]

WASHINGTON–Parents and teachers don’t like it. For many students, it has failed to produce the promised benefits. And experts agree it urgently needs to be fixed. But that doesn’t mean Congress is ready to revamp No Child Left Behind, the education reform law pushed by President George W. Bush with bipartisan Congressional support in 2001. As […]

WASHINGTON-Connecticut is out of the running for a coveted federal education grant that state officials had said was vital to implementing the sweeping new school reforms passed in May. Connecticut did not make the list of finalists for the Race to the Top grants, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced today. Eighteen other states–including New York, […]

WASHINGTON–Under the new health care reform law, 76 percent of small businesses in Connecticut are now eligible for tax credits to help pay for health insurance, a benefit that will greatly expand access to health care, according to a new report this week from Families USA, a Washington-based consumer health care advocacy group. Not so, […]

WASHINGTON–Rep. John Larson, D-1st, was at the center of a political firestorm last week, although you might not have known it from reading the headlines or tuning into latest cable TV news flash. Larson, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, started the week collecting a torrent of complaints from his fellow House Democrats about a […]

Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced Monday that the state will move forward to set up its own insurance plan for people with serious health problems, instead of letting the federal government run the program. The new insurance option, called the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, is part of the federal health care reform overhaul. It is […]