Washington — As soon as the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act, the nation’s health insurers called for changes in the law.
Washington
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Murphy seeks open floodgates for Connecticut dams
Rep. Chris Murphy, D-5th District, won House approval Tuesday for legislations that would allow the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to license the towns of Canton, Avon and Burlington so they can reactive two old power-producing dams. The towns have wanted to operate the two Collinsville dams, built in the 18th and 19th centuries, to produce […]
Posted inHealth
Connecticut residents slated to get $13 million from insurers
Beginning in August, nearly 138,000 Connecticut families and individuals will receive a bonus from their health insurance company — thanks to the Affordable Care Act. Those whose insurers spent too much on administrative cost will receive checks or reductions in premiums that average $168. This is the result of the so-called 80/20 rule in the […]
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal wins on animal-fighting measure
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., has had a big win on legislation that would make it a federal crime to attend an animal fight. The animal-fighting amendment — which would also strengthen existing penalties for spectators who knowingly bring children to an animal fight — was included in a massive farm bill approved by the Senate […]
Posted inNews
McCain endorses Shays in You Tube video
Arizona Sen. John McCain is helping fellow Republican, former Rep. Chris Shays, raise money and votes in Shays’ quest for a Connecticut Senate seat. Not only was McCain a featured guest at a Shays fundraiser on Capitol Hill in Washington Monday night, but he agreed to a filmed endorsement in which he called Shays “a great […]
Posted inNews
Lieberman challenges Secret Service chief on agency’s ‘permissive’ culture
Sen. Joe Lieberman and other lawmakers told Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan they don’t believe him when he says there’s no widespread misconduct at the agency. Sullivan spoke publicly about the drunken romp of Secret Service agents in Cartagena, Colombia, at a Senate Homeland Security hearing held by Lieberman, the panel’s chairman. A 29-year Secret […]
Posted inPolitics
Connecticut lawmakers lose battle over domestic violence bill
The House of Representatives voted 222-205 to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act Wednesday without a single vote from the Connecticut delegation. That all-Democratic delegation prefers a bill the Senate approved last month that would extend protections to the gay and transgender communities. The Senate bill would also provide temporary visas to illegal immigrants who […]
Posted inNews
Blumenthal trying to keep Facebook passwords from bosses
Most job applicants know employers are not allowed to ask their age; if they are married; have children; or about their religious beliefs. But what about an employer who asks for your Facebook password? Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and several other Democrats, want to make sure it’s illegal for employers to coerce job applicants or […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Defense and the environment: There’s no contradiction here
Global environmental writer and former New York Times reporter Andrew C. Revkin writes a blog for the newspaper, Dot Earth. Revkin’s covered many of the earth’s environmental hot spots over the years — Amazon rainforests, the transformation of the Arctic, Katrina, etc. — and so he’s worth reading. Wednesday’s blog, however, is Defense Secretary Leon […]
Posted inPolitics
McMahon continues to self-fund campaign
Linda McMahon, a Republican candidate for retiring Sen. Joe Lieberman’s seat, poured another $600,000 of her own money into her campaign this week, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. McMahon, who aired the first television commercial in the Senate race this week, had loaned her campaign nearly $4 million as of March 31. […]
Posted inEducation
Is state stuck with No Child Left Behind if Malloy fails?
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy As Gov. Dannel P. Malloy attempts to push his controversial education reforms through the legislature, he’s taking up a new talking point: Failure means the state’s chances of being relieved from the dictates of the federal No Child Left Behind law are at risk. “These are obligations which I doubt we’ll […]
Posted inNews
Lieberman asks Secret Service for information about agent misconduct
Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., has asked the Secret Service to turn over a mass of information about the behavior of its agents in the past five years. The scope of the requests for information indicates that Lieberman plans a wide-ranging probe of the Secret Service, whose agents got into trouble in Cartagena, Colombia, last month […]
Posted inNews
Lieberman asks for new moratorium on postal closings
With the clock ticking toward a shutdown of hundreds of postal facilities across the nation — and about a dozen post offices and two processing centers in Connecticut — Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., insists that Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe hold off on closure plans. Lieberman and three other senators, Susan Collins, R-Maine, Scott Brown, R-Mass., […]
Posted inEducation, Politics
Courtney, other Connecticut Democrats, slam GOP on student loan vote
Washington — Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, has for months been trying to win approval for a bill that would avoid a doubling of the interest rate on a popular, federally subsidized student loan. But when the House finally approved legislation Friday that would prevent interest rates on Stafford loans from doubling to 6.8 percent […]
Posted inNews
Courtney moves to increase sub production
Washington — In defiance of President Obama, who wants to slow the production of submarines to save money, a House Armed Services panel voted Thursday to require the Navy to buy one more submarine than the Pentagon wants. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, inserted that provision into a bill that would authorize defense spending in […]