Connecticut lawmakers are preparing for President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address by inviting a diverse group of guests from the state to attend what is expected to be a highly politicized event.
Jim Himes
Jim Himes, a Democrat, has served as the U.S. representative for Connecticut’s fourth congressional district since 2009.
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.
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Connecticut Dems have big stake in November elections
WASHINGTON – Connecticut’s all-Democratic delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives has been hampered by being in the minority since 2010, but that may change this year, analysts say.
Posted inJustice, Politics
Himes sole CT lawmaker to vote for NSA surveillance bill
WASHINGTON — Rep. Jim Himes was the only House member from Connecticut on Thursday to vote for a bill that would allow the National Security Agency to intercept without warrants calls or emails from suspected foreign terrorists outside the United States.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Senate, House approve tax plan CT lawmakers call disastrous for state
Updated at 1:15 a.m. Wednesday
WASHINGTON — With Vice President Mike Pence presiding, the Senate early Wednesday approved a massive tax overhaul on a strict party-line vote, deepening the partisan divide in Congress. Connecticut’s Democrats joined all others in their party to vote against the tax plan, calling it a giveaway to the rich that would hurt working Americans.
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Blumenthal, other Dems call for greater protections for Mueller
WASHINGTON — Paul Manafort’s indictment on Monday widened a partisan split, with Democrats, including Sen. Richard Blumenthal, calling for an increased pace of investigation and added protections for special counsel Robert Mueller and Republicans demanding equal effort be spent on a probe of ties between Democrats and the Russians.
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401(k) plans in play as GOP moves ahead on tax overhaul
WASHINGTON — As Congress took a major step towards a massive tax overhaul on Thursday — with no help from Connecticut’s Democratic lawmakers — the future of the popular 401(k) retirement plan was in question. Key GOP lawmakers want to offset some of their proposed tax cuts by limiting the maximum pre-tax contribution to workplace saving plans such as the 401(k). That could make big changes in they way Americans save for retirement.
Posted inJustice, Politics
Stone tells congressional panel he was not involved in Russian hacking
WASHINGTON — Roger Stone, a longtime confidant of President Donald Trump, told the House Intelligence Committee Tuesday that he had no contact with Russian operatives during the 2016 presidential election. In a written opening statement, Norwalk native Stone said he viewed the panel’s investigation “as a political proceeding,” and dismissed allegations he colluded with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to release damaging, hacked emails from the Clinton campaign.
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Author of antifa handbook defends antifascist violence
WASHINGTON — The death of Heather Heyer and the wounding of 19 others by a neo-Nazi at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., has become a recruiting call for a little-known group with an anarchist bent called the antifa. A historian sympathetic to the movement defends its use of violence, and explains how a European-based antifascist movement has taken hold in the United States. His views are rejected by liberal groups fighting the radical right.
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Trump remarks roil CT Dems, and GOP colleagues
President Donald Trump’s revival of a declaration that “both sides” were to blame for the deadly violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., has drawn swift rebukes from Connecticut members of Congress — and a growing number of their GOP colleagues.
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Murphy, Malloy say Trump to blame for white supremacist violence at UVA
WASHINGTON — Sen. Chris Murphy on Saturday accused President Trump of giving license to “racism, anti-Semitism and homophobia” that fueled passions at violent white supremacist and neo-Nazi protests at the University of Virginia on Saturday. Meanwhile GOP lawmakers criticized Trump for failing to condemn white supremacists at the rally.
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Blumenthal calls Trump’s new Vietnam tweets about him ‘slurs’
Updated at 5:57 p.m.
President Donald J. Trump took to Twitter Monday morning – and again in the afternoon – to renew his attacks on U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., bringing up the senator’s misstatements about service in Vietnam for the third time. Trump called him a “phony Vietnam con artist.”
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GOP congressional candidates willing to swim against political tide
Congressional candidates in Connecticut are bracing for next year’s mid-term elections, which could shift power in the U.S. House and Senate and serve as a referendum on Donald Trump’s presidency. Former State Rep. Dan Carter, 49, who lost a challenge last year to Sen. Richard Blumenthal, is among those testing the waters for a run against Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty.
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CT lawmakers prepare for 2018 campaign by raising lots of cash
WASHINGTON — Connecticut’s members of Congress, all Democrats, are preparing for the pivotal 2018 elections by getting a head start in the campaign money race. Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-5th District, raised more money than any Connecticut member of the House of Representatives in the first six months of this year.