Media Center

WASHINGTON—Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-2) released the following statement after President Obama delivered the 2014 State of the Union Address tonight:

Washington—Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-2) announced that his guest for President Obama’s 2014 State of the Union Address on Tuesday, January 28^th will be Katherine Hackett of Moodus, Connecticut. Ms. Hackett, the mother of two U.S. servicemen, was cut off from emergency unemployment insurance benefits on December 28^th. Along with more than 20,000 other Connecticut residents, she lost this modest but vital lifeline because House Republican leaders refused to hold a vote to extend federal emergency unemployment benefits before adjourning at the end of 2013.

WASHINGTON—Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-2) applauded the bipartisan passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, an omnibus spending measure that appropriates government funding for Fiscal Year 2014, by a vote of 359 to 67. The bipartisan coalition included 193 Democrats and 166 Republicans supporting the legislation, with 3 Democrats and 64 Republicans opposing it.

Hartford—Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-2) and Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen highlighted the need to extend tax relief for forgiven mortgage debt. The tax provision, which allowed taxpayers to exclude “income” from mortgage modifications, short sales, and foreclosures from being subject to federal income taxes, expired at the end of last year. The provision was originally enacted in 2007, and was one of 55 tax provisions that the Republican-led House of Representatives allowed to expire last month.