With the unanimous support of the Connecticut delegation, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a landmark education bill, and both houses of Congress approved a five-year transportation bill that will send billions of dollars to the state.
Export-Import Bank
Posted inPolitics, Transportation
Transportation bill will boost CT road funds and help Amtrak
WASHINGTON — Congress was expected to approve a massive five-year transportation bill Thursday that would send Connecticut more than $3.5 billion in federal transportation money, bar the rental of cars under recall and commission a study that would determine an impairment standard for drivers who have smoked marijuana.
Posted inPolitics
Himes says GOP should turn to centrist Dems to stop chaos
WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Jim Himes has a solution to the leadership crisis in the House: Republican leaders should replace the hard-to-get votes of Tea Party sympathizers with those of moderate Democrats like himself.
Posted inPolitics
Connecticut’s Washington Week
In the news: The Iran nuclear pact survives; GE lobbies for the Export-Import Bank; the number in Connecticut without health insurance drops; the delegation opposes defunding Planned Parenthood; and the UConn women’s basketball team shows up at the White House — again.
Posted inPolitics
CT lawmakers meet with GE’s Immelt, promise help in D.C.
WASHINGTON – Several members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation Wednesday promised General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt whatever help he needed in Washington. “We offered to do whatever we can,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
Posted inPolitics
No Ex-Im bank, so GE says it may move jobs overseas
WASHINGTON – General Electric announced Tuesday that it may move about 500 U.S. jobs to France, Hungary and China because of Congress’s failure to extend the charter of the Export-Import Bank. It is an issue that could also influence the Connecticut-based company’s search for a new headquarters.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Senate votes to revive Export-Import bank
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate late Monday voted to revive the embattled Export-Import Bank, a government corporation that helps exporters in Connecticut by financing and insuring foreign purchases of their goods.
Posted inMoney, Politics
CT businesses pushing back on shutdown of Ex-Im Bank
WASHINGTON — The Tea Party, aided by other conservative Republicans and the billionaire Koch brothers, celebrated a big victory last week when Congress failed to reauthorize the charter of a bank that helps U.S. businesses, including Connecticut-based General Electric and United Technologies, make sales overseas.
Posted inPolitics
Bank that boosts Connecticut exports under fire
WASHINGTON – For years Connecticut companies, large and small, have benefitted from a federally backed bank that helps them sell their goods overseas — but a bitter fight over whether the Export Import Bank is taxpayer-funded corporate welfare has put its future in question.
Posted inNews
Connecticut mayors enter the fray over Export-Import Bank
Washington – Several Connecticut mayors have joined their counterparts in dozens of cities across the nation in writing to congressional leaders, urging them to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank, a government agency that makes it easier for American companies to make overseas sales.
Posted inMoney
Sikorsky presses to sell Black Hawks abroad
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon has given its approval for Sikorsky to sell 12 Black Hawk helicopters, fully equipped with Hellfire missiles and high-caliber machine guns, to the Tunisian armed forces at a cost of $700 million.
Posted inNews
Washington Watch — Week of July 27
In the last week of work before Congress’s August recess, there will be a lot of finger-pointing concerning who is responsible for failing to get must-pass legislation approved, including a final highway bill, and legislation that would deal with the surge of unaccompanied minors crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Little-known Ex-Im Bank hot issue in 2nd District race
WASHINGTON –A battle has erupted in the race between Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, and his Republican opponent, Lori Hopkins-Cavanagh. It centers on a financial institution little known outside the business world.