Eastern Connecticut

“Thank you to Governor Lamont for fulling his commitment to revisit the decision to locate a new state police gun range in Griswold,” Courtney said. “For over three years, the Connecticut Department of Administrative Services has attempted to identify a location for a new training range. And in every instance, they have both faced strong objection of local citizens and municipal leaders and resisted alternatives to this misguided plan. Every step of the way, I have opposed those efforts and spoken up on behalf of communities across eastern Connecticut who felt that they were not being heard in the process.

“I want to thank the Norwich NAACP for conferring the Youth Council award on Ayanti, who is a splendid role model for young people because of her inclusive record of success.”

“Today’s announcement from Mr. Geiger and Electric Boat is good news for eastern Connecticut and for the state,” said Congressman Courtney. “This year’s projection of nearly 900 new hires represents a continued strong, upward trajectory for both the local and regional economies and builds on over 1,000 new hires in Connecticut over the past year.

“All Mitch McConnell has to do is bring up that bill – which they already passed – send it to the President, and with the stroke of a pen this would end today. These people who, again, are doing the important work of the American people would not have to be going through the stress and aggravation while they are doing great work to protect our public safety, to represent our country overseas and to make sure that we have leaders of the future through institutions like the Coast Guard Academy.

“Last night, Congress took another small but important step towards helping those affected by this crisis,” said Congressman Courtney. “Specifically, two amendments that Congressman John Larson and I authored on this issue were included in the spending bill we passed to end the partial government shutdown. While these amendments alone will not solve the crumbling foundations crisis, the unanimous support our proposals received on the House floor in July - and their inclusion in this funding package in the opening hours of the new Congress – provides strong backing to our ongoing efforts to marshal resources on the federal level to help.

“We want to get the word out that IRS will be holding a free webinar that tax preparers and homeowners can learn more about recent development on tax deductions for foundation repairs,” said Courtney and Larson. “Last week, we announced that the IRS has made it clear that homeowners can “carry forward” or “carry back” a net operating loss under the casualty loss deduction for crumbling foundations repairs. This clarification means that even if the net loss suffered by a homeowner exceeds their annual tax liability, they can carry forward the loss for up to 20 years and can carry back for two years. This development will provide significant help for middle-class homeowners, and we want to get the word out about how they can start using this deduction when they go to file next spring.”