WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a bill that would block the sale of Plum Island — a strip of land in Long Island Sound — to the highest bidder. The voice vote on the bill was a substantial win for environmentalists, conservationists and Connecticut lawmakers who want to preserve the island as a natural habitat — but only if the Senate follows suit.
Rosa DeLauro
Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat, has served as the U.S. representative for Connecticut’s third congressional district since 1991.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
House panel cuts education budget, but not nearly as much as Trump
WASHINGTON — House appropriators rejected many of President Donald Trump’s proposed cuts to education, but trimmed some programs and eliminated others – including one that provides the state and local school districts with $25 million in teacher training grants each year. House appropriators also failed to adjust this year’s Pell grant awards for inflation, a move state officials say will cost Connecticut students $6 million in college financial aid next year.
Posted inPolitics
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.
Posted inPolitics
DeLauro fights political winds with book making case for social safety net
WASHINGTON — Three years ago, veteran Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro felt compelled to do one of the few things she had never done before – write a book. The result is “The Least Among Us: Waging the Battle for the Vulnerable,” a smooth read about her fight to protect the social safety net and her battles with both Republicans and Democrats who disagreed with her position or her approach. We talk to her about it in this week’s Sunday conversation.
Posted inPolitics
Trump tightens U.S. travel to Cuba, CT lawmakers decry changes
WASHINGTON — Connecticut lawmakers join those pushing back against President Donald Trump’s new policy changes toward Cuba. But the president left many of President Obama’s initiatives intact.
Posted inPolitics
CT lawmakers react in horror to shootings at GOP baseball practice
Updated at 3 p.m.
Washington – Connecticut lawmakers, for whom gun violence has a personal edge because of the Newtown shootings, reacted with shock and horror at a gunman’s attack on a Republican congressional baseball practice early Wednesday. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., the House majority whip, was among those shot. The gunman, who was identified as James Hodgkinson of Illinois, also was shot and later died.
Posted inJustice
Blumenthal calls Comey’s tale ‘chilling;’ Murphy says Trump should testify
WASHINGTON – This city was transfixed Thursday by former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony to Senate Intelligence Committee and Sen. Richard Blumenthal was among those had a front-row seat during the riveting three hours of questioning. He said Comey painted a “chilling picture” of his contacts with President Donald Trump.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
CT environmentalists vow to go it alone after Trump’s Paris exit
WASHINGTON — Connecticut environmental groups and the state’s Democrats decried President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the Paris agreement on climate change and vow to keep up their efforts in the state to cut greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Trump budget: CT health, education, research hit — defense a mixed bag
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s budget would require Connecticut to drop residents from key social and health programs in the state, and make tough decisions on how to handle other proposed federal cuts to education, housing and the environment. Connecticut’s congressional delegation vowed to fight it.
Posted inJustice, Politics
Feds give Barrios a 30-day stay of deportation
WASHINGTON — Federal authorities have given Guatemalan immigrant Luis Barrios, who in Connecticut has become the face of the Trump administration’s immigration policy, a 30-day stay of a deportation that was to have occurred in the early hours of Thursday.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Westporter Gottlieb to face Senate scrutiny of his bid to head FDA
WASHINGTON – Sen. Chris Murphy will introduce Scott Gottlieb, a Westport resident and candidate to head the Food and Drug Administration, to fellow members of the Senate panel that’s key to his confirmation – but that won’t keep the nominee from having a bit of a rough ride among Democrats.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Death of GOP health care bill increases CT Dems’ calls to fix Obamacare
WASHINGTON — With the stunning failure of the GOP to win support for its health care bill Friday, Connecticut Democrats increased their calls for reforms to the Affordable Care Act that would keep it alive. “If they want to work together to enact improvements to the Affordable Care Act, I will be there,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro.
Posted inHealth, Politics
As GOP health care plan falters, CT Dems watch and wait
Updated at 9:13 p.m.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and House Republicans are making both threats and promises to try to salvage the GOP health care bill – but the deal-making is all on the Republican side of the aisle, with Connecticut’s all-Democratic congressional delegation sitting on the sidelines.
Posted inPolitics
Trump’s move to end heating aid also would trim food stamps for many
WASHINGTON — The Trump budget blueprint was silent on the government’s largest social welfare programs, but elimination of federal help to pay heating bills also would cut back on food stamps for about 71,000 people in Connecticut.
Posted inPolitics
CT lawmakers reject Trump’s new travel ban
Updated at 7:50 p.m.
WASHINGTON – Connecticut’s federal lawmakers – all Democrats – unanimously rejected President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban, which his administration hopes will survive any challenge in court. The new executive order, signed by the president Monday, targets travelers from six majority-Muslim countries and no longer restricts travel from Iraq, one of seven listed in the original order.
