BLUMENTHAL: The senator and Congressman John Larson (CT-1) announced $575,000 in grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) to Connecticut Fair Housing Center, Inc. in Hartford to assist victims of housing discrimination across the state.
"These grants help ensure that victims of discriminatory housing practices in Connecticut have the support they require," Blumenthal said in a statement released by his office. "The Fair Housing Center is at the forefront of fighting for access to fair and affordable housing."
One grant of $325,000 will be used to provide administrative, investigative, and legal services to individuals who may encounter discrimination, while two grants totaling $250,000 will be used for public outreach, education and training.
LIEBERMAN: The senator expressed his thoughts on Twitter about the U.S. Postal Service's new plan to reduce the operating hours of its offices:
"PMG decision to reduce hours at thousands of post offices consistent w/ Senate passed postal bill- wish he waited for Congress to act."
HIMES: The congressman has dubbed the GOP's Reconciliation Bill as "Wreckonsillyation," saying that it would cut vital services to avoid reductions in Pentagon spending:
It’s unconscionable that some in Congress refuse to cut Pentagon spending, even when it means taking food out of the mouths of starving children to pay for their unwillingness to make real choices,” Himes said in a statement released by his office. “We’ve left Iraq and we’re drawing down troops in Afghanistan. Our tax code is broken, and we won’t be able to afford programs like Medicare that people desperately need if we do not make reforms. Our deficit problem is serious now, but it will become grave if we do not act quickly. The games on both sides need to stop—it’s time to act on a real plan to reduce the deficit in a way that doesn’t ask the poor to the carry the burden of tax cuts for the most affluent among us and decades of poor fiscal decisions.”
DELAURO: The congresswoman also commented on the Reconciliation Bill. This is wrong," she said. "Budgets are about choices and about values, and this bill exposes exactly what this Majority is all about. We need to pass legislation that strengthens and rebuilds the middle class, creates jobs, invests in rebuilding our infrastructure, supports manufacturers, and restores fairness to our tax code. This Reverse Robin Hood agenda of the House Majority fails in every regard, and I urge my colleagues to oppose it."
MURPHY: Chris Murphy for Senate launched a new Web-based grassroots campaign geared towards women this week called Women for Murphy and is led by Rep. DeLauro.
"We need Chris in the Senate to fight back on the extremist Republican agenda and stand up for the issues that matter to us," DeLauro wrote on the site. "I just don’t want Chris in the Senate, I need him there as my partner to fight back against Republicans that want to take women’s rights back to 1950. I can’t think of a fight more necessary to take on or a partner better to have at my side than Chris."
