WASHINGTON – The entire Connecticut congressional delegation has asked U.S. trade officials to prevent a provision in a new trade pact that would bar state cheese producers from labeling their products “Asiago” or “Feta.”
Richard Blumenthal
Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut’s senior U.S. senator, was first elected in 2011. Sen. Blumenthal has supported stricter gun legislation and support for veterans.
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Blumenthal has big war chest; Kudlow friends raise money
The latest reports filed with the Federal Elections Commission show that Sen. Richard Blumenthal ended 2015 with nearly $4 million in his campaign account. Supporters of conservative commentator Larry Kudlow have established a “testing the waters” PAC called “Jobs for Connecticut.”
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Key CT lawmakers open to making women sign up for the draft
WASHINGTON — Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Rep. Joe Courtney, both members of armed services committees in Congress, say they are open to requiring young women to sign up for the draft. The issue has come under debate after two senior military officials said they supported extending the draft to women.
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CT lawmakers ask food stores to ban ‘open carry’ of guns
Updated at 5:36 p.m.
WASHINGTON – As part of a ramped-up gun safety campaign, Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy and U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty have asked the Connecticut Food Association to implement a gun “open carry” ban in the state’s retail stores. “Customers should feel safe while shopping,” the lawmakers said.
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Congress takes aim at epidemic of opioid abuse
WASHINGTON — After states have spent years grappling with the problem, Congress may finally address the epidemic of heroin use and abuse of prescription pain killers which has affected Connecticut and the rest of New England more than much of the country.
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Blumenthal, Murphy help block Syrian refugee bill
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate on Wednesday blocked a bill that has split the Connecticut delegation and would have required additional scrutiny for Syrian and Iraqi refugees, slowing their entry into the United States. “Our enemy is ISIL – not refugees,” Blumenthal said in a statement
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For CT delegation, a flurry of successes in a blizzard of bills
WASHINGTON – Sen. Richard Blumenthal sponsored and co-sponsored 377 bills and amendments in 2015, more than any other U.S. senator. But a Connecticut Mirror analysis found other Connecticut lawmakers were busy, too.
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A HUD secretary touts a new promise to a poor city
HARTFORD — President Obama’s secretary of housing and urban development, Julián Castro, dropped in Friday on 06120, one of the poorest zip codes in the United States, a place where the latest federal anti-poverty programs go to be road-tested. So it is with the North Hartford Promise Zone, a designation granted in April to about three square miles of unrealized promise.
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At Republican retreat, GOP senators press Kudlow to run against Blumenthal
BALTIMORE, MD. — Larry Kudlow continued to keep people guessing as to whether he’ll challenge Sen. Richard Blumenthal at the House and Senate Republican retreat in Baltimore Thursday, but the pressure was on. “I talked to quite a few senators,” Kudlow said. “They were very encouraging.”
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Obamas to put Malloy in spotlight at State of the Union
WASHINGTON — Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will be one of the most notable guests at Tuesday’s State of the Union speech, sitting with Michelle Obama.
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White House rolls out new gun control measures
WASHINGTON — With support from Connecticut lawmakers, President Obama is taking executive actions that will broaden FBI background checks of gun buyers and anger Republican members of Congress who say the president has overstepped his authority.
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Decades later, compensation for Iranian hostages
Thirty-six years after Moorhead Kennedy spent 444 days as one of 53 U.S. Embassy personnel taken hostage in Iran on Nov. 4, 1979, he is close to getting compensation. He attributes the breakthrough to the work of a U.S. senator from Connecticut, several colleagues – and the Hollywood movie, “Argo.”
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Defense spending, permanent R&D tax break benefit CT firms
A hyper-busy Congress accomplished this week much of what it wasn’t able to do all year.
Posted inEducation
Senate saves Perkins student loan program
WASHINGTON– The nation’s oldest student loan program, which had expired in September, has been temporarily revived by the Senate. The Perkins loan program was available at most of Connecticut’s four-year colleges and has helped thousands of students in the state.
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North Stonington selectman helps GOP lawmakers push Indian recognition bill
WASHINGTON– Nicholas Mullane, a longtime Republican selectman for the town of North Stonington, on Wednesday helped bolster a GOP bill would strip the Obama administration of its authority to recognize Indian tribes.