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CT defense industry wins big in U.S.
budget bill
By Ana Radelat Monday, January 20, 2014 CTMirror.org
The stealth F-35, whose engines are built by
Pratt & Whitney, got full funding in the federal budget. Other winners in Connecticut's defense
industry were Sikorsky Aircraft and Electric Boat.
http://www.ctmirror.org/story/2014/01/19/ct-defense-industry-wins-big-us-budget-bill
Washington – The massive omnibus spending bill creates winners and losers
– and at first blush it seems that Connecticut
is chiefly in the winner’s column.
Like other
state governments, the Malloy administration is still trying to determine the
impact of the $1.1 trillion federal budget approved by Congress last week.
But there’s
no doubt that at least one big winner is Connecticut’s
defense industry. The omnibus bill allocates more than $6 billion
for the Virginia-class submarine program, a sub built by Groton-based Electric
Boat.
Also fully
funded is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, whose engines are built by Pratt & Whitney.
Sikorsky is
in the winner's circle as well. The omnibus bill contains $333.5 million that
would allow the U.S.
Air Force to replace old Sikorsky-built Pave Hawk helicopters with 112 new ones
that would perform combat search-and-rescue mission.
Despite the
Air Force’s call for open competition, the only bidder for the new program was
Sikorsky, teamed with Lockheed Martin. The Air Force officially selected
Sikorsky in late November, but it didn't know then if it would have the money
to move forward.
“The
search-and-rescue money is a huge victory because it was severely threatened,”
said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who voted for the omnibus bill along
with the rest of the Connecticut
congressional delegation.
The amount
of federal money that will flow to Connecticut’s
defense contractors this year prompted Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., to call the
omnibus a “home run” for the industry.
Butter and guns
Preschool children
are also helped by the bill as funding for the early education program Head
Start has been increased significantly. In recent years cuts to Head Start
forced hundreds of Connecticut
children off the program. The omnibus bill is expected to allow more children
to benefit from Head Start, but David Dearborn, spokesman for the state
Department of Social Services, said the full impact of Head Start’s increased
funding won't be determined until the state hears from the U.S. Department of
Health and Social Services later this week.
The federal
bill also increased funding for a slew of mental health programs, a move that
drew praise from Sandy Hook Promise, a group formed after the Newtown tragedy.
“This is the
first step in a long road, but we go forward in 2014 with hope, knowing that we
have been heard, and as a result, lives may be saved,” said Nelba
Marquez-Greene, the group’s director of mental health.
The Mental
Health Grant Program, whose funding was boosted by $47 million to $484 million,
was also directed by the omnibus bill to use 5 percent of its grants for early
intervention programs for those with serious mental illness.
“Decreasing
the delay between the first onset of symptoms and people receiving the help
they need shows tremendous promise,” a Sandy Hook
Promise statement said.
The bill
also includes $200 million for the FBI to improve its background check program
for gun buyers and $75 million for a new school safety program.
The bill
also increases, by nearly 20 percent, subsidies that
help low-income people rent housing. School lunch and the Women, Infant and
Children nutrition programs also received a boost.
So did the
Low Income Heating Assistance Program, or LIHEAP. But the Malloy administration is still trying to determine the effect
in Connecticut
of the increase in funding for LIHEAP and other federal programs run by the
state.
The omnibus
also contains language that postpones, at least until the end of the fiscal
year, a rate increase in the Flood Insurance Program for many coastal
homeowners.
Universities win
University of Connecticut spokesman Tom
Breen said the spending bill “puts an end to the uncertainty involved with the
… sequester cuts and repeated ‘continuing resolutions’ to fund federal
operations.”
He said the
omnibus bill includes needed funding for the university’s research and economic
development activities and shores up student loan programs.
Breen said
that nearly 60 percent of last year’s across-the-board cuts to the National
Institutes of Health budget were restored, which will support research at the
University of Connecticut Health Center and the new Jackson Laboratory research
facility.
Breen also
said the omnibus protects Pell Grant funding and provides modest increases in
student financial aid programs, "which is important given the estimates
that demand for both will increase in 2014.”
The bill
also gives the university a chance to compete for the Manufacturing Centers of
Excellence program and the Department of Energy’s renewable energy technology
grants, which were increased by $102 million over last year’s levels, Breen
said.
Losers
Republicans
insisted on cutting the budget of the Internal Revenue Service by $500 million
in response to the agency’s audit of conservative nonprofits. That may mean a
longer wait for a tax return this year.
Obamacare also took a hit. The IRS was denied $440
million in extra money President Obama wanted so the agency could help enforce
his health care law. Americans who don’t have health insurance by March 31 face
an IRS penalty.
Jason Madrak, chief marketing officer for Access Health CT, the
state’s insurance exchange, predicted that the loss of enforcement money will
have little impact in Connecticut.
“Here in Connecticut, most people
are signing up because of the value of the coverage instead of the fear of the
penalties,” he said.
Republicans
also prevailed in cutting the Affordable Care Act’s Prevention and Public
Health Fund by $1 billion.
The
Environmental Protection Agency’s budget was also trimmed. That could affect
funding for Connecticut’s
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said agency spokesman Dennis
Schain.
“We’re
constantly watching the EPA budget,” he said. “A significant percentage of our
money comes from the federal government, including the EPA.”
Amtrak will receive $1.4 billion — about $80 million more than
last year. But there’s no money in the omnibus bill for high-speed rail -- and little money to upgrade the nation’s
railroad tracks.
Blumenthal called
that a “major failing” of the bill.
“I consider
that a loss,” he said. “But overall the state wins.”
***********
By: Ana Radelat | January 28, 2014
Washington -- Most lawmakers are calling it a good deal, but
Connecticut
anti-hunger advocates say a new massive farm bill’s cuts to food stamps will
leave thousands in the state hungry. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Budget/Economy,
Politics,
Washington,
Cicilline, Congress,
DeLauro,
farm bill,
farm
subsidies
By: Ana Radelat | January 28, 2014
Washington – President Obama’s state of the union speech
Tuesday evening will focus on economic fairness for the middle class and the
long-term unemployed and a defense of the Affordable Care Act, a senior
administration official said. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Budget/Economy,
Politics,
Washington,
Affordable
Care Act, Economy, gun
control, immigration,
Obama
President Obama’s expected call tonight in his State of the
Union address for the nation to confront economic inequality should have a
special resonance in Connecticut, a state dotted with pockets of extreme
wealth, deep poverty and the nation’s worst gap in education achievement. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Budget/Economy,
Politics,
Washington
Could 27,000 Connecticut
residents’ Social Security numbers have been mailed – along with their names
and addresses – to households other than their own? A top Republican lawmaker
demanded answers Monday after reviewing one of the thousands of faulty tax
forms the state Labor Department acknowledged sending out late last week. House
Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero, R-Norwalk, also
said he wants to know if the state mailed incorrect tax data regarding
unemployment recipients to the IRS. “How did this happen? To
what extent did this happen?” Cafero said
during a midafternoon news conference at the State
Capitol, adding that a letter seeking details was being sent to the department.
Continue Reading →
Filed under: Budget/Economy,
Politics,
connecticut, identity
theft, IRS, Larry Cafero, Sharon
Palmer, Social
Security
On a day when the state posted disappointing jobs numbers,
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said he intends to ask the
General Assembly next month to fund a successful private-sector program for the
long-term unemployed and to ban help-wanted ads that discriminate against the
jobless. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Budget/Economy,
Politics,
Dannel P. Malloy,
job
training, Unemployment
Connecticut’s unemployment
rate continues to drop – but so does the number of residents still looking for
work. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Budget/Economy
Connecticut’s cities and
towns hope to reclaim their share of state sales tax revenues when the 2014
General Assembly session convenes next week. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Budget/Economy,
Politics,
Schools/Child Welfare
By: Keith M. Phaneuf and Jacqueline Rabe Thomas | January 23, 2014
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy offered his
strongest hint yet Thursday that he might propose some tax cut in two weeks
when he delivers his latest budget plan to the legislature. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Budget/Economy,
Politics,
budget,
connecticut, Malloy,
tax cut
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