Media Center | Congressman Joe Courtney
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March 18, 2014
​When Howard Lunt arrived home from the Korean War in 1953, there wasn’t much fanfare. There were no parades or triumphant bands waiting to cheer him on. Nor did he receive any medals for his service for fighting along the 38th parallel — his military record likely lost amid the winding down of the war that claimed the lives of more than 30,000 Americans. That changed Monday when Lunt, 82, was presented with five medals honoring him for his service during the conflict that many, including Lunt, describe as the “forgotten war.”

March 17, 2014

WASHINGTON—After appearing with President Obama at Central Connecticut State University to promote an increase in the federal minimum wage, Congressman Joe Courtney noted that recent reports from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and the Center for American Progress indicate that raising the minimum wage would decrease federal spending

Issues: Economy & Jobs

March 14, 2014

WASHINGTON, DC –Congressman Joe Courtney today encouraged eastern Connecticut’s aspiring young artists to participate in the 2014 Congressional Art Competition. The competition is open to high school students only, grades 9 through 12, and the winner will be selected at the District Art Show and Competition on Thursday, May 1st. The winner of that competition will have his or her work featured in the United States Capitol along with art from all 435 Congressional Districts.


March 13, 2014

WASHINGTON—Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-2) released the following statement congratulating Connecticut senior Senator Richard Blumenthal on his new chairmanship of the Senate Armed Services Airland Subcommittee:


March 5, 2014

WASHINGTON—Today, after the House approved H.R. 3370, the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-2)—a cosponsor of the bill—released the following statement:

“Over the last six months, I have spoken to eastern Connecticut realtors and homebuilders about the critical need for this law. The skyrocketing rate increases that have occurred in the last year will effectively lock up our state’s real estate market in flood zones, hampering our economic recovery.


February 27, 2014

WASHINGTON—Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-2) and Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy announced that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will award $32,847,955 in disaster declaration funds to the New England Multispecies Groundfish Fishery. The funding, part of $75 million in congressionally-allocated assistance for nationwide fisheries disaster declarations, was authorized under the 2014 Omnibus Appropriations Act.


February 26, 2014

WASHINGTON—Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-2) released the following statement after Governor Malloy and UTC CEO Louis Chênevert announced an agreement in which UTC will invest up to $500 million over 5 years in Connecticut to upgrade and expand its aerospace research, development and manufacturing facilities. In addition, UTC has committed to retaining its Pratt & Whitney division headquarters in Connecticut for 15 years and its Sikorsky headquarters in Connecticut for at least 5 years.


February 24, 2014
Ukrainian- born Volodymyr Serhiyenko has been living in the United States for the past five years and has been enjoying his personal freedoms with a democratic government. But he’s been haunted by all the recent turmoil and unrest, with peaceful protestors shot dead by snipers at the Maidan (Independence Square), fires outside parliament, stun grenades and gunfire — the worst bloodshed the country as seen in 22 years of independence. Serhiyenko was one of many locals attending a meeting at the Ukrainian National Home in North Windham Sunday with other members of the University of Connecticut’s Ukrainian Student Association, Ukrainian Americans from around Connecticut and state dignitaries.

February 12, 2014
Connecticut was among 16 states that saw record levels of exports last year, with the sale of aerospace and related equipment accounting for nearly half of the $16.5 billion in exports, a report released Tuesday shows. Exporting for the nation as a whole in 2013 also rose to a record, $2.3 trillion. In Connecticut, the level of exports rose by 3 percent, from $16 billion in 2012, and was 7 percent higher than $15.4 billion in 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. "I'm not surprised," said Peter Gioia, vice president and economist at the Connecticut Business & Industry Association. "Companies involved in exporting are getting more and more aggressive."

February 12, 2014
Problems caused by a Medicare rule that forces hospitals to label certain patients under "observation" status rather than as inpatients have only worsened in the four years since U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney first introduced legislation to fix it. That's the assessment of case managers at the region's two hospitals, who both applaud the third bill Courtney and other lawmakers have introduced since 2010 to change Medicare rules so that patients could be covered for skilled nursing care after a hospitalization, regardless of whether they were "observation" patients or inpatients. Under the current rules, Medicare patients discharged to skilled nursing care facilities must pay out of pocket for those services, unless they were labeled as hospital "inpatients" for three consecutive days. Increasingly strict limits on who can be classified as an inpatient - with penalties for hospitals that mislabel patients - have meant hospitals are categorizing more patients as "observation."