WASHINGTON — A deal that ended the brief government shutdown included a promise to hasten a debate in Congress over immigration, but good intentions have run into political realities that are putting the fate of thousands of young, undocumented immigrants in Connecticut in doubt.
Politics
Stories about CT politicians, elections, state legislation, the state’s congressional delegation and the impact of federal legislation on Connecticut.
Posted inPolitics
A rising GOP star at 20, Aundré Bumgardner defects over Trump
On a difficult election night for Connecticut Republicans in 2014, Aundré Bumgardner was one of the bright spots, a 20-year-old black candidate whose election to the state House gave the GOP a jolt of youth and racial diversity. He was hailed by the Republican state chairman as “part of the next generation of leaders in our party.” Three years later, Bumgardner no longer is a member of the House or the Republican Party, unwilling to tolerate what he sees as President Trump’s intolerance.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Congress funds children’s health program, but not health centers
Coverage of children who depended on HUSKY B lurched from month to month before Congress approved the continuing resolution that ended the shutdown. But there was no funding for community health centers, which serve many HUSKY B children and Medicaid recipients.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Town leaders: Further reform needed for pensions, school funding
Municipal leaders urged a state study panel Tuesday to support further restrictions on public-sector pensions, ending collective bargaining for retirement benefits and aggressively redistributing education aid from communities losing students to those gaining them.
Posted inPolitics
Arora puts up big money in bid to unseat Himes
WASHINGTON – With his base in wealthy Fairfield County, Rep. Jim Himes is a top campaign fundraiser, but the Democrat has a new Republican challenger who says he plans to rival the incumbent in raising political money.
Posted inJustice, Money, Politics
Most CT lawmakers opposed bill that reopened government
WASHINGTON — Saying the deal was not good for Connecticut, most Connecticut lawmakers on Monday voted against a short-term spending bill that will reopen the government. The Connecticut Democrats who opposed the CR said it failed to fund programs important to the state and to protect young undocumented immigrants known as “dreamers.” But it did authorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as HUSKY B in Connecticut, for six years.
Posted inPolitics
Susan Hatfield, a prosecutor, explores GOP campaign for AG
Susan Hatfield, a state prosecutor from eastern Connecticut who was a Donald J. Trump delegate in 2016 and once worked in Washington as a young policy aide to former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, opened an exploratory campaign Monday for the Republican nomination for attorney general.
Posted inPolitics
Goal of latest group to study Connecticut: ‘Go big, or go home’
Given just two months to address deep-rooted fiscal problems neglected by generations of Connecticut politicians, the co-chairs of a new study panel are undaunted, insisting the political establishment has reached a tipping point and is ready for change. History, and the election calendar, weigh heavily against them.
Posted inPolitics
Data: Candidates submit end-of-year fundraising figures
Here are the year-end summaries of fundraising by exploratory and candidate campaign committees raising money for state office elections in 2018.
Posted inPolitics
Rally to empower women draws thousands to the Capitol
A year after thousands of Connecticut marchers took to the streets wearing pink hats and carrying homemade signs of resistance in the first Women’s March in Hartford, residents returned Saturday to again issue calls for action — this time to empower women at the ballot box.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Federal government shuts down, CT to feel aftershock
WASHINGTON — Connecticut residents will still get their mail and Social Security checks, but the shutdown of the federal government will reverberate through state agencies – especially those that are most reliant on federal grants and federal workers — and many in the state would eventually feel an impact.
Posted inPolitics
CT GOP, Lumaj campaign deny knowledge of Higbie’s views
Connecticut Republicans, including a gubernatorial candidate who once employed him as a spokesman, quickly distanced themselves Friday from Carl Higbie, the brash former Navy SEAL from Greenwich who resigned from a Trump administration post after CNN uncovered a string of bigoted and insensitive remarks.
Posted inPolitics, Transportation
An independent and Democrats say tolls are necessary
At a transportation forum for Democratic and unaffiliated candidates, an independent offered the broadest prescription for how to stabilize and grow a special transportation fund now projected to hit insolvency by 2022, leaving the state unable to borrow money to address a growing backlog of transportation needs.
Posted inHealth, Money, News, Politics
Shutdown impact on CT would depend on how long it lasts
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House approved a short-term spending bill late Thursday, but the legislation that would avert a government shutdown is expected to face a tough time in the Senate. A shutdown’s impact on Connecticut would depend on how long it lasts.
Posted inPolitics
Working Families co-chair Julie Kushner running for state Senate
Julie Kushner of Danbury, a longtime political and union organizer as a UAW leader and co-chair of the Connecticut Working Families Party, said Thursday she is running for state Senate, hoping to tap into the wellspring of political activism by women generated by the election of Donald J. Trump as president. She is seeking a seat last won by a Democrat in 1994.