WASHINGTON – Interested in wine, soccer, bicycles or corrosion prevention? In Congress there’s a caucus for that. In fact there are more than 700 member organizations, most of them informal, and Connecticut’s lawmakers are some of the biggest joiners.
Congress
Posted inMoney, Politics
Murphy presses again for gasoline tax hike to shore up highway fund
WASHINGTON – Sen. Chris Murphy, in partnership with Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, has renewed a push for their proposal to raise the gasoline tax to shore up a transportation fund that will soon run out of money, threatening road and bridge projects in Connecticut and elsewhere across the nation.
Posted inPolitics
State, local governments hire lobbyists for influence in D.C.
WASHINGTON – Despite tight budgets and Congressional gridlock, Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, other Connecticut municipalities and the state continue to hire Washington lobbyists to seek federal dollars, keep them informed about national issues and help the state’s congressional delegation address their needs.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Himes splits with delegation on Wall Street bill; Esty reverses
WASHINGTON – Rep. Jim Himes split with the rest of Connecticut’s House delegation on Wednesday by voting for a bill opponents say would weaken the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill. Most Democrats opposed the bill, even some like Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-5th District, who voted for similar legislation as recently as last week.
Posted inMoney, Politics
DeLauro breaks with Obama, big CT firms on Pacific trade deal
WASHINGTON – Rep. Rosa DeLauro is on a collision course with President Obama and some of Connecticut’s largest companies over a proposed trade deal with 12 countries on the Pacific Rim that span from Chile to Japan. DeLauro, D-3rd District, has become a leading opponent of the president’s plans for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Obamacare mandate hits some CT firms harder than others
WASHINGTON – Connecticut businesses must begin complying with the Affordable Care Act this year, but the new Republican-led Congress is trying to blunt the impact. Most efforts to change the ACA, however, will put Congress at loggerheads with the White House.
Posted inMoney
U.S. House approves terrorism risk insurance
Washington – To the relief of the property and casualty insurance industry, the House on Wednesday approved legislation that would reauthorize a program that serves as a backstop for insurers when they are faced with large claims resulting from a terrorist attack.
Posted inPolitics
For Esty, first term tested survival skills
WASHINGTON – Days after she won re-election, in a move that was as symbolic as it was practical, U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty and her Capitol Hill staff moved into a new office, an indication she had moved up in seniority and solidified her place in Congress. (This is the fifth in a series of stories about the roles each member of the Connecticut congressional delegation played in the 113th Congress.)
Posted inPolitics
Courtney took a moderate path in 113th Congress
WASHINGTON – When Congress considered legislation that would give President Obama authority to train and arm Syrian rebels last summer, Rep. Joe Courtney was the only member of the Connecticut delegation to support it. The vote was one of several instances in which the lawmaker split with his colleagues in the 113th Congress. (This is the second in a series of stories on the role each member of the Connecticut congressional delegation played in the 113th Congress.)
Posted inPolitics
Coltsville faces hurdles before official national park status
It will likely be years before the Coltsville neighborhood near the Connecticut River in Hartford will welcome its first visitors to the Coltsville National Historical Park. Before the big day, a series of property transfers will have to take place and plans will have to be developed by the National Park Service, processes that typically take a long time.
Posted inNews
Connecticut has winners, losers in $1.1 trillion U.S. spending plan
WASHINGTON – The massive $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill that Congress struggled to approve – with little help from the state’s Democratic lawmakers – has some clear winners and losers in Connecticut, including Pratt & Whitney, Aetna Inc., food stamp recipients and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal, Murphy split on budget bill that averts shutdown
Washington – Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy split over a massive omnibus spending bill the Senate approved late Saturday little more than an hour before the government would have shut down due to a lack of funding. Murphy voted for the$1.1 trillion bill, Blumenthal did not.
Posted inPolitics
Murphy wins seat on Senate Appropriations Committee
WASHINGTON – Sen. Chris Murphy, who is still in his freshman term in the Senate, has been given a seat on the Senate Appropriations Committee in the next Congress, a powerful panel that decides all spending issues and is responsible for the budget that funds all federal departments and programs.
Posted inEducation, Politics
On anniversary, advocates mark 95 shootings since Newtown
WASHINGTON – Gun-control advocates have marked the two-year anniversary of the massacre of first graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School with a report that says there have been 95 school shootings since the Newtown tragedy.
Posted inPolitics
CT lawmakers united in support for tax break bill
Washington – After a lot of wrangling and a veto threat from the White House, the U.S. House of Representatives finally voted on Wednesday for a bill that would extend dozens of tax breaks — with the support of the entire Connecticut House delegation.
