Washington – The Senate on Tuesday will finally consider the nomination of Linda Schwartz, who heads the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs, to a key job at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Senate
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With control of Senate in the balance, Connecticut senators help colleagues
Connecticut Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy are donating a lot of money to other Democrats this year because control of the U.S. Senate, now in Democratic hands by a margin of six seats, could very well flip to the GOP in November.
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CT lawmakers lean on Harry Reid to schedule Schwartz VA vote
WASHINGTON – Members of the state’s congressional delegation on Thursday told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid they are tired of tapping their feet waiting for a confirmation vote for Linda Schwartz, the head of the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs, who has been nominated by President Obama for a top VA job in Washington.
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Partisan battles keeping Schwartz from VA job
WASHINGTON – As deep problems at the Department of Veterans Affairs come to light, Congress continues to stall on key VA administrative nominees, including that of Linda Schwartz of Connecticut, named to be the agency’s assistant secretary of policy and planning.
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Senate confirms Daly as U.S. Attorney for Connecticut
WASHINGTON — It’s official: The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Deirdre M. Daly to serve as U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut. Daly will serve a four-year term.
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Despite CT lawmakers’ support, minimum wage bill falters in Senate
Washington — Senate Democrats Wednesday failed to move forward on a bill that would boost the federal minimum wage, likely killing the effort in Congress.
The bill failed on a 54-44 vote. Sixty votes were needed.
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Malloy challenges Boehner, Part II
Washington – Gov. Dannel Malloy is tussling with House Speaker John Boehner again, this time over long-term unemployment benefits.
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Congress to move ahead, then freeze up, on jobless benefits
Washington – Because Congress failed to act, Joanne Lavieri of Manchester received her last unemployment check at the end of March and faces a very uncertain future.
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Blumenthal asks for money for some, not all, endangered Democrats
In one of his latest fundraising appeals, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., has asked his donors to give to the campaigns of three endangered Democrats, Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Kay Hagen of North Carolina and Mark Udall of Colorado instead of giving that money to his campaign.
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Connecticut’s unemployed pin hopes on divided Congress
The Democratic-led Senate has voted several times to restore benefits to 3.6 million long-term unemployed like Norwalk resident Joel Zaremby, but it fell one vote short of the 60-vote threshold needed to move the legislation forward. Now the Senate is trying one more time to find a compromise that will clear that hurdle. But time is running out.
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Senate confirms Meyer for District Court
Washington – It took more than eight months and executing the “nuclear option,” but Jeffrey Alker Meyer, a law professor at Quinnipiac University and former federal prosecutor, was confirmed by the Senate on Monday as a U.S. District Court judge in Connecticut. Meyer’s nomination had to clear a couple of hurdles Monday. The first was […]
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Blumenthal, DeLauro try to stop flood insurance increases
Washington – Saying more than 18,000 Connecticut homeowners will be socked with soaring flood insurance premiums, Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Rep. Rosa DeLauro are pressing the House of Representatives to pass a bill that would stop those hikes.
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Blumenthal milks Senate support for dairy compromise
During the Senate debate Thursday on a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill, Sen. Richard Blumenthal used a glass of milk as a prop to try to bring attention to a new compromise that might end a deadlock over the dairy program that has stalled a massive farm bill. Blumenthal, D-Conn., said a deal has been cut to keep the current dairy subsidy program while phasing in a new program that would replace those subsides with an insurance plan.