The Biden administration may be on the verge of damaging America's reputation and US national security by agreeing to a defense pact with an "authoritarian regime" in Saudi Arabia, a group of 20 Democratic senators warned in a letter to the president on Wednesday. The New York Times reported last month that the Biden administration is considering a... Read More about Senators warn Biden that a defense pact with 'authoritarian' Saudi Arabia in exchange for normalizing ties with Israel hurts American interests

Twenty Democratic U.S. senators on Wednesday expressed support for a potential Israeli-Saudi normalization deal but laid out concerns about any U.S. security guarantees or nuclear assistance to Riyadh. In a letter to President Joe Biden, the senators underscored resistance the White House could face from Congress if the administration brokers a... Read More about Twenty US Democrats express concerns about possible US-Israel-Saudi diplomatic deal

President Joe Biden will nominate Quinnipiac University law professor Sarah Russell, who previously served as a federal public defender, to sit on the U.S. District Court in Connecticut. Russell, who has taught at Quinnipiac since 2011, is the director of the law school’s Legal Clinic and works on juvenile sentencing and parole issues. Through the... Read More about Quinnipiac law professor Sarah Russell nominated to federal court

Advocates for affordable food, housing and health care in Connecticut are sounding the alarm that the temporary federal funding bill hammered out by lawmakers over the weekend will expire just before Thanksgiving. Republican threats to cut federal food benefits to mothers, children and the elderly are causing confusion, said Lucy Nolan, executive... Read More about CT food, health advocates worry stopgap federal funding bill only carries them to Thanksgiving

President Joe Biden announced on Friday the establishment of the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention to help reduce the nation's epidemic of gun violence. Speaking from the Rose Garden, the president said he took this action "to send a clear message about how important this issue is to me and to the country.""After every mass... Read More about Biden announces White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention

Top federal lawmakers in the Northeast have penned a letter to Congress asking them to provide more direct help to local growers impacted by July’s historic flooding. Lawmakers are asking the federal government to approve more aid for New England farmers as part of a spending package needed to avert a government shutdown on Oct. 1. The letter was... Read More about New England lawmakers want more federal money for farmers hit by July floods

NORWALK — The city is preparing to undergo an affordable housing study required by state law this fall amid a housing crisis in Fairfield County. "AKRF, the City’s affordable housing consultant, spent the summer reviewing the policy documents and draft zoning for Norwalk’s Affordable Housing Study," the city said in a statement. "They are in the... Read More about Norwalk preps for affordable housing study amid Fairfield County housing shortage

Irish American politicians have spoken out against the controversial Legacy Bill, with the latest progress through the UK Parliament described as "shameful". The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill passed last week after an attempt by the House of Lords to amend it was defeated. It is expected to go before the House of Lords... Read More about Irish American politicians speak out against 'shameful' Legacy Bill after progress in Parliament

President Joe Biden arrived in India for the G20 Summit, where Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping are notably absent. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) joins Ryan Nobles to discuss Biden’s foreign policy and what might come out of the G20 summit. “There's no doubt that China is growing in military prominence and prowess, but their primary... Read More about Sen. Murphy: ‘Hardest work’ at G20 summit is uniting ‘democracies’ to curb China’s economic power

WASHINGTON — The names and faces of hundreds of senior military nominees blocked from promotion by Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama dotted a lawn outside the Senate on Tuesday as Democrats stepped up their pressure campaign for him to end his hold. The visual installation by the progressive veterans group Vote Vets served as a backdrop... Read More about Hundreds of photos of blocked military nominees line Senate lawn as Democrats raise pressure on Tuberville

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer suggested Tuesday that the onus is on House Republicans to pass a short-term spending agreement before the Senate acts. “Our first job is to get the House to pass something,” Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters at his weekly news conference. “We’ll see if they can. But we need a bipartisan bill in each body.” While... Read More about Senate Democrats to House Republicans: Pass a Short-Term Spending Bill and Avoid a Shutdown

WESTON, Conn. (WTNH) — A Weston resident is one of the five Americans released Monday after serving years behind bars in Iran.   According to the White House, Morad Tahbaz from Weston and four other Americans boarded a Qatari plane en route to Doha early Monday. They will then travel to Washington to reunite with their families. With them, two... Read More about Connecticut resident detained in Iran released into U.S. custody

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) —  Five Americans, one of whom was from Connecticut, detained for years in Iran walked off a plane and into freedom Monday, many arm-in-arm, as part of a politically risky deal that saw President Joe Biden agree to the release of nearly $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets owed by a third country, South Korea. The... Read More about Five prisoners, one from CT, sought by the US in a swap with Iran have flown out of Tehran

Approximately half of U.S. adults reported experiencing loneliness, even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The issue recently moved U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy to issue an advisory around the "loneliness epidemic" in America. Soon after, Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy introduced a bill that would launch an Office of Social Connection Policy,... Read More about 'What's eating at America': Addressing the loneliness and isolation epidemic

The Biden administration this week told Congress that it intends to withhold $85 million designated for U.S. security assistance to Egypt this year, and instead provide the bulk of the money to Taiwan. Sign up for Fact Checker, our weekly review of what's true, false or in-between in politics.The decision brought immediate criticism from lawmakers... Read More about U.S. cuts military aid to Egypt, sends money instead to Taiwan

WASHINGTON—The U.S. plans to redirect some of its foreign military financing allocated for Egypt to Taiwan over what it says is Egypt’s failure to make progress on human rights and other issues, according to U.S. officials. The Biden administration has notified Congress that it would withhold $85 million in aid conditioned on the release of... Read More about U.S. to Shift Millions in Military Aid From Egypt to Taiwan

A bipartisan group of legislators affirmed their commitment to increase funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) Tuesday afternoon at a High Holiday Security Briefing held on Capitol Hill, despite intensified funding pressures on Capitol Hill this year.  In rare public comments on the NSGP, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), who chairs the... Read More about Murphy commits to working for nonprofit security funding boost

Families of more than 200,000 children in the state of Connecticut will receive additional Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits starting on Monday, according to the governor’s office. The Department of Social Services and the Department of Education are distributing benefits of $25.1 million. This amounts to about $120 per... Read More about Additional SNAP benefits coming to 200,000 Connecticut children

WASHINGTON - A proposed regulation announced Thursday by the Biden administration would require thousands of gun sellers to register with the federal government and conduct background checks of their customers. A small part of the bipartisan gun law Congress passed last year broadened the definition of a “gun dealer” as a way of reducing the number... Read More about Biden Administration Proposes Major Expansion Of Gun Sale Background Checks

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) criticized former Vice President Mike Pence’s proposal to give arrested mass shooters the death penalty, saying the remarks show his ignorance on the topic. The proposal “shows how little Mike Pence understands about the gun violence epidemic in this country,” Murphy said in a CBS interview on Tuesday. “Fact is, most... Read More about Sen. Chris Murphy: Pence understands ‘little’ about gun violence