WASHINGTON – Newtown activists on Thursday helped introduce the first gun safety bill in this Congress, officially kicking off the gun control debate on Capitol Hill. The bill would ban large capacity ammunition clips for everyone but military members and law enforcement officers.
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.
Posted inNews
Blumenthal, Schumer differ on approach to Metro-North Valhalla crash
WASHINGTON – Sens. Chuck Schumer and Richard Blumenthal held a joint press conference on the fatal crash between a Metro-North train and an SUV in Valhalla, N.Y. ; and though they were on the same telephone line, they weren’t always on the same page.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
CT officials, executives on fact-finding trip to D.C.
WASHINGTON – Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy invited dozens of Connecticut local officials, business executives and heads of non-profit agencies to the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday for a day of accessing the sometimes puzzling ways of Washington.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Senate approves, Obama will sign, Blumenthal’s veterans bill
WASHINGTON -– The Senate unanimously approved a bill Tuesday sponsored by Sens. Richard Blumenthal and John McCain that aims to prevent veteran suicides, which now average 22 a day.
Posted inPolitics
CT lawmakers big joiners of special-interest caucuses
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.
Posted inEducation, Health, Money, Politics
CT lawmakers to back Obama, their own agendas, at State of the Union
WASHINGTON – President Obama is expected to roll out an ambitious agenda in his State of the Union speech that could increase the distance between the White House and Republicans in Congress. Connecticut’s lawmakers, however, will use the occasion to show support for that agenda – and promote their own.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Senate approves terrorism insurance bill that aids CT insurers, businesses
WASHINGTON – The Senate on Thursday gave final legislative approval to a bill that would help Connecticut’s property and casualty insurers by re-establishing a federal backstop in the event a terrorist attack results in massive claims.
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal big on introducing legislation, bigger on consumer advocacy
WASHINGTON – Only one other senator co-sponsored more legislation than Sen. Richard Blumenthal in the outgoing Congress — just one indication of the Connecticut Democrat’s energy and broad reach on Capitol Hill. He’s used his position as a member of the majority party in the Senate and his role on key committees to make the most of his political clout. (This is the sixth in a series of stories about the roles each member of the Connecticut congressional delegation played in the 113th Congress.)
Posted inHealth, Politics
Lawmakers urge feds to buy CT-made flu vaccine
WASHINGTON – Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, and Elizabeth Esty, D-5th District, released a letter Monday that urges the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to consider a local company when the agency awards contracts for next year’s flu shots
Posted inPolitics
Sandy Hook remembered with prayer, politics and litigation
The second anniversary of the Dec. 14, 2012 massacre of 26 women and children at Sandy Hook Elementary School was marked in Connecticut by litigation, prayer and politics.
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 inPolitics
227 CT gun deaths later, Newtown families continue their campaign
WASHINGTON — Some 227 people have died from gun violence in Connecticut since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre two years ago. On Wednesday, Connecticut lawmakers joined Newtown families and victims of gun violence across the nation in renewing their calls for new federal gun laws.
Posted inPolitics
Senate to begin debate on bill that would turn Coltsville into national park
WASHINGTON – A massive defense bill that would authorize billions of dollars in spending on Connecticut defense projects — and turn the Hartford’s Coltsville neighborhood into a national park — may face its first test in the Senate today.
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal promotes bill to combat sports blackouts
Washington – Sen. Richard Blumenthal knocked major league sports leagues Thursday, saying the federal government has given them a “blank check,” and promoted legislation that would pressure the leagues to end the blackout of games.