Press Releases

WASHINGTON, DC — Congressman Joe Courtney today released the following statement in response to a new White House report outlining the damaging impact of sequestration's cuts on Connecticut:

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Joe Courtney today announced that the House Education and Workforce Committee will next Wednesday hold a hearing on school safety. Courtney, who returned to the committee at the beginning of the 113^th Congress, wrote to Chairman John Kline and Ranking Member George Miller in December after the Newtown shooting, calling on the committee to make school safety a priority over the next two years.

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Joe Courtney today released the following statement after House Republicans voted to adjourn and send Members home, even as the deadline to prevent sequestration's across-the-board cuts ticked down to 13 days. The vote in the House was 222-190, with every House Democrat voting to remain in session.

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Joe Courtney tonight released the following statement after President Obama's State of the Union address:

"President Obama effectively challenged Washington to focus like a laser on continuing our economic recovery, growing jobs at home, and expanding markets abroad. By emphasizing manufacturing, hiring tax credits, college affordability and the value of associate's degrees and technical schools, we reinforce the underpinnings of our economy and ensure a workforce whose skills match the challenges we face.

WASHINGTON, DC – According to new data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), 11,195 eastern Connecticut Medicare beneficiaries saved $10,849,307 on prescription drugs because of the Affordable Care Act in 2012. The number already dwarfs the $5,001,408 eastern Connecticut seniors saved in 2011, and it will continue to grow each year until the Part D donut hole is completely phased out in 2020.

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Joe Courtney today released the following statement after "Lincoln" screenwriter Tony Kushner conceded that his screenplay and the film erroneously depicted Connecticut's House delegation as voting against the 13^th Amendment, which abolished slavery.

WASHINGTON, DC – The Connecticut House delegation today applauded the appointment of Judith Stein, founder and executive director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy in Willimantic, to the Bipartisan Long-Term Care Commission. Created earlier this year as part of the American Tax Relief Act, the commission is responsible for developing a plan to establish, implement, and finance a comprehensive set of long-term care services for seniors and people with disabilities. Last month, Reps.

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Joe Courtney today sent the following letter to director Steve Spielberg and DreamWorks, asking Spielberg to correct an historical inaccuracy in the Academy Award-nominated film, Lincoln, which places Connecticut on the wrong side of the slavery debate and ratification of the 13^th Amendment. In the film's climactic scene, two of Connecticut's three Members of Congress vote against the 13^th Amendment outlawing slavery.