Congressman Joe Courtney NEWS CLIPS
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| Sunday, June 21st 2009 |
Congressman Joe Courtney CLIPS: June 21 - 26
Videos
· VIDEO: Economic Trade Mission
Articles
· Courtney Named Legislator of Year
· Green Groups Celebrate Birthday Today in Lisbon
· 100 Bikers Take A Ride to Remember Through Norwich
· UConn Professor Gets $2.8 Million To Study Online Reading Ability
· Where Does the Congressional Delegation Stand on the Rights of Same Sex Couples
· Courtney Lauds New Health Care Proposal
· Courtney to Host Discussions on Health Care Reform in Windham, Norwich
· Courtney Bringing Healthcare Round Tables to CT
· Defenders: Va. Stadium Plan Falls Apart
· Tribute Honors American Veterans
Editorial
· EDITORIAL: Dairy Farms Are A Way of Life Worth Saving
· U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney: New Legislation Can Even Playing Field For Self-Employed
LTE
· LTE: Fire-Rescue Boat Keeps Old Saybrook Safer
Articles
Courtney Named Legislator of Year
The Day
June 22, 2009
Rocky Hill - The Connecticut Chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars awarded U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney “2009 Legislator of the Year Award.”
Courtney, D-2nd District, accepted the award during the organization's recent annual convention in Rocky Hill.
Rusty Meek, chapter commander, said Courtney not only supports all veterans, but answers questions posed to his office quickly.
”Congressman Courtney also lets you explain your problem and gets you a thorough and honest answer that you will accept; even if the answer isn't favorable,” Meek said. “He tells you the truth.”
”It is honor to fight for what our military personnel deserve and for what they have earned,” Courtney said. “I vow to continue to do all that I can for Connecticut's veterans and our active-duty military personnel who one day may join their ranks.”
Green Groups Celebrate Birthday Today in Lisbon
Norwich Bulletin
June 21, 2009
The Eastern Connecticut Resource Conservation and Development Area Council and the Connecticut Environmental Review Team Program will celebrate their 40th anniversary at an annual meeting at 11 a.m. today at Heritage Trail Vineyard on Route 169 in Lisbon.
A representative for U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, and Lisbon First Selectman Tom Sparkman are expected to attend.
The celebration will include a presentation from Linda Piotrowicz of the state Department of Agriculture’s Farm to Chef Program.
100 Bikers Take A Ride to Remember Through Norwich
Norwich Bulletin
June 20, 2009
Norwich, Conn. —
John Drew was one of the approximately 100 motorcycle riders who roared through the city Saturday as part of a Ride to Remember and a ceremony honoring Vietnam veterans at Howard T. Brown Memorial Park.
“Our government has forgotten a lot of us,” said Drew, a Vietnam veteran who lives in Uncasville. “But we haven’t.”
Richard A. DeLorge, community activities director for the Norwich Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 594, and organizer of the event, said the ride was held as a demonstration to government officials to find prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action.
Saturday’s events, which included a tribute ceremony to Vietnam veterans at the park, were part of the traveling Vietnam Wall exhibit. DeLorge estimated that more than 20,000 people have visited the wall since it arrived Wednesday in Norwich.
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, said the traveling wall was inspiring and deemed the city of Norwich to be the most pro-Vietnam veteran community in Connecticut.
Courtney said it is important to remember the American citizens serving in the armed forces and the stress it puts on servicemen’s families.
“I think it’s important for us to remember this isn’t just about the past, this is about today,” Courtney said.
State Rep. Chris Coutu, R-Norwich, delivered a similar statement, reminding the audience of the 1.3 million Americans who have died in armed conflict since the American Revolution and the millions more who have suffered emotional and physical injuries.
“When this wall leaves, these people and these families still have these scars,” Coutu said.
Jeff Nelson, director of Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s Eastern Connecticut Office, presented a proclamation from Rell declaring June 17 “American Veterans Traveling Tribute Day in Connecticut.”
Residents said they were impressed with the ceremony, though it prompted somber reflection.
“It paid respect to a lot of people who lost their lives,” said Vietnam veteran Ron Phillips of Canterbury. “They’ve done a beautiful job.”
UConn Professor Gets $2.8 Million To Study Online Reading Ability
The Day
By: Chanel Laporte
June 22, 2009
University of Connecticut professor Donald Leu of Waterford has been awarded a federal research grant of $2.8 million to finance the Online Reading Comprehension Assessment.
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, announced last week the project will receive $657,564 in the first year of the project and the rest over the course of four years.
Leu, the Director of the New Literacies Research at the Neag School of Education at UConn, hopes this grant will allow him and his team to develop a comprehensive assessment of students' online reading abilities.
He said students' online reading and traditional reading abilities differ greatly and it is important to measure both types of literacy. When students take state reading assessments, online literacy is not measured.
”It's important because online reading comprehension is different from traditional reading comprehension,” Leu said. “Something different is going on during online reading that isn't captured with the state reading assessments.”
With computer literacy growing more and more essential, Leu stressed the importance of teaching students how to read both online and traditionally. He said it is still necessary to measure traditional comprehension, but measuring online comprehension could give insights into how to better teach students both types of reading.
Leu added that lower-performing students, such as those with learning disabilities, may have skills that make it easier for them to read online, something else that he seeks to learn more about through his project.
”We find some, not all, of the 10 percent of all lowest performing students are some of our better online readers,” he said.
Leu hopes that if he is able to develop a good assessment to measure literacy, schools across the country will adopt a new curriculum that teaches both online and traditional reading comprehension.
Currently, schools are focusing on raising test scores as mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act, Leu said. However, none of these schools test online literacy and those schools in economically challenged areas are having difficulty supplying students with the equipment necessary to learn to read well online.
Most importantly, Leu wants to create an assessment that will bring online reading into the forefront of education and give states the incentive to include it on their tests.
”We're hoping states will include these items, so all students will learn 21st-century reading,” he said.
Where Does the Congressional Delegation Stand on the Rights of Same Sex Couples
Hartford Courant
By: Daniela Altimari
June 22, 2009
With the matter of same-sex marriage settled in Connecticut for the foreseeable future, gay rights activists here are turning their attention to the federal level.
Love Makes a Family recently surveyed the seven members of Connecticut's Congressional delegation and found generally strong support for repeal of the controversial Defense of Marriage Act. The law, signed by President Clinton, defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Four members -- Sen. Chris Dodd and Representatives Joe Courtney, Chris Murphy and Jim Himes support the right of same-sex couples to marry. Rep. Rosa DeLauro said she is "comfortable with Connecticut's marriage law."
Courtney, Himes and Murphy also support full repeal of the DOMA; Dodd and DeLauro backs repeal of Section 3 of the act, which denies federal benefits to same-sex couples.
Dodd's view on the rights of same-sex couples have shifted over the years. He once believed civil unions were adequate in addressing the legal rights of gay and lesbian partners, but has come conclude that such distinctions are unfair. "I believe that, when my daughters grow up, barriers to marriage equality for same-sex couples will seem as archaic, and unfair, as the laws we once had against inter-racial marriage,'' Dodd wrote in an op-ed piece published Sunday in the Meriden Record Journal. "And I want them to know that even if he was a little late, their dad came down on the right side of history.''
Sen. Joe Lieberman voted for the DOMA in 1996 and his stance hasn't changed. "DOMA makes clear that marriage under federal law is a status that should be attainable only by one man and one woman,'' Lieberman said in a statement released by Love Makes a Family.
But, the statement added, "[a]ny State's decision to define marriage otherwise, such as his own state of Connecticut which he respects, should not effect the definition of marriage under either federal law or the laws of other states.''
And Lieberman's statement makes a point of mentioning his support of other matters of importance to gays and lesbians: A proposal that would outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation, a measure to extend job-related benefits such as health insurance and retirement benefits to the domestic partners of federal employees and he supports repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
What about U.S. Rep. John Larson? According to Love Makes a Family, the 1st District Democrat would not give his position, despite "repeated requests.''
Courtney Lauds New Health Care Proposal
Norwich Bulletin
By: Michael Gannon
June 24, 2009
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, called a proposal for national health care reform an excellent start Tuesday after the first public hearings before the House Education and Labor Committee.
“This is certainly not the final draft,” Courtney said after the hearing. “But it will ensure that up to 95 percent of the people in the country have health insurance.”
It also would provide insurance to small businesses, the self-employed and low-income people through either a government plan or a private one via a new kind of insurance purchasing pool called an exchange. Eventually, the exchanges could be opened to large companies as well.
Courtney said the heath care reform, which is estimated to carry a trillion dollar price tag, would be paid for by establishing a health care reserve fund; cost reductions in the Medicare system that will allow for savings; and tax increases on upper earners.
National plans in Canada and Great Britain have been made cost effective in part by reducing the availability of costly diagnostic procedures such as CT scans and MRIs, and by limiting access to things such as new drugs. Courtney said a new system would function more like the U.S. Medicare system.
“(Medicare) provides end-of-life care, very generously, and you don’t see any of the horror stories that people are throwing out there to scare the public into opposition,” he said.
Private insurance
In a statement released by congressional Republicans, U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, R-Indiana, said it could cost workers the insurance plans they have now.
“Once they see a government option available, during these very difficult economic times where businesses are struggling just to keep the lights on and the doors open, many small-business owners and family farmers will simply cancel their health insurance and send their employees to the federal government,” Pence said.
Courtney said most businesses in Massachusetts, where there is a similar universal plan, have continued to offer their own coverage, while reducing the state’s uninsured rate to 2 percent.
He said the House hopes to have a final bill by Aug. 1.
Courtney to Host Discussions on Health Care Reform in Windham, Norwich
Norwich Bulletin
June 24, 2009
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, will host two roundtable discussions on health care reform next week. The discussions will take place at 12:30 p.m. on June 30 at Windham Hospital located at 112 Mansfield Avenue in Windham; and at 1:30 p.m. on July 1 at the Rose City Senior Center at 8 Mahan Drive in Norwich.
Courtney will be joined by health care experts and advocates, as well as residents who responded to a recent online survey from the Congressman’s office. The individuals will discuss difficulties they have had with the health care system and insurance industry.
Courtney Bringing Healthcare Round Tables to CT
HartfordBusiness.com
June 25, 2009
As healthcare reform gains steam in Washington, Connecticut Congressman Joe Courtney will host two roundtable discussions on the topic in Windham and Norwich on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Courtney is on the House Education and Labor Committee, which helped to create the draft reform proposal. The draft proposal includes language that would ban pre-existing condition exclusions.
The discussions will take place Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. at Windham Hospital, 112 Mansfield Ave., in Windham, and on Wednesday at 1:30 at Rose City Senior Center, 8 Mahan Drive in Norwich.
Courtney will be joined by healthcare experts and advocates, as well as residents who responded to a recent online survey from the Congressman's office. The individuals will discuss difficulties they have had with the healthcare system and insurance industry.
Defenders: Va. Stadium Plan Falls Apart
Norwich Bulletin
By: Joe Perez
June 25, 2009
Nearly a month remains until the Eastern League-imposed deadline for a proposed sale and approved relocation of the Connecticut Defenders to Richmond, Va., but attempts to secure a long-term stadium have taken a serious blow.
Highwoods Properties, the developers of the Shockoe Bottom development in Richmond, announced Tuesday it was abandoning its efforts to see the project through. Although this creates another twist in the ongoing efforts of the league and Minor League Baseball to move the team in time for next season, it won’t hinder short-term plans. There is already a tentative agreement in place to allow the Defenders to play at the already existing stadium, the Diamond, should the team move.
In a statement regarding Highwoods’ decision to halt its pursuit of the Shockoe Bottom project, Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones said, “We know there is excitement about Richmond as a baseball town and we have a commitment from the Eastern League that there will be a team on the ground in the Diamond next spring.”
Minus the proposed plan, there is no long-term solution being discussed. However, longtime baseball executive Peter Kirk and his firm, Opening Day Partners, presented a plan to renovate the Diamond for a fraction of the cost of a stadium in the Shockoe development.
The firm, which includes Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson as a partner, specializes in team ownership and operation, as well as stadium development. Despite reaching out to Richmond, Kirk said his firm has not had conversations with the city, but says its construction schedule at the Diamond is approximately 11 months.
“If I was advising Richmond, I would tell them No. 1, concentrate on developing a long-term ballpark solution,” Kirk said. “Secondly, look at the alternatives.”
Kirk said he believes if work begins on the Diamond within the next two months, there could be a new and different ballpark ready for use.
There is still no team to play at any established or hypothetical stadium.
Defenders owner Lou DiBella, who was unavailable for comment, has met with several Richmond-area parties interested either in purchasing the team or joining with him in forming a partnership.
Richmond businessman Charlie Diadour, who supports renovating the Diamond, said the city’s business community should “roll out the red carpet” for DiBella.
“I think that Lou DiBella and his team would be welcomed here in the city of Richmond in the near future, not far out,” he said. “I don’t want this to drag on; none of us in Richmond want this to drag on as I’m sure none of the citizens of (Norwich) want this to drag on.”
Eastern League President Joe McEacharn has promised the city an Eastern League team for next season and, according to Defenders Controller John Cunningham, there is a league-wide conference call slated for Friday leading up to an Eastern League board of directors meeting a week from Friday at Philadelphia International Airport.
McEacharn was unavailable Wednesday for comment.
With the likelihood the Defenders are playing their final season at Dodd Stadium, U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D- 2nd District, has gone to bat for the region. Sending letters to McEacharn and Minor League Baseball President Pat O’Connor in April, Courtney promoted the city and its ballpark as viable homes for a short-season New York-Penn League team.
Tribute Honors American Veterans
Reminder News
By: Melanie Savage
June26, 2009
Imagine you’re an 18 –year-old kid and you’ve been drafted. Or maybe you haven’t been drafted. Maybe you volunteered to fight because you believed it was the right thing to do. John F. Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country,” and your country says this is a war that needs to be fought.
Now imagine you’re on your way home from Vietnam a few years later. You’re still young, still just a kid. But you’ve seen and heard atrocities that defy description. You are forever changed. The stewardess tells you to change your clothes in the lavatory of the airplane. But it doesn’t make a difference . As you disembark, there is a crowd of people waiting to jeer at you and spit on you.
Forty-one years later, John, who fought in Vietnam until July of 1968, still tears up just thinking about it. He tells the story of a little boy who dove for an errant can of C-rations and came up holding a grenade. “The kid might not even have known what it was,” said John. But this was a war in which it was often impossible to distinguish friend from enemy. “The Marine who had to shoot that little kid,” said John, “How do you think that will affect him for the rest of his life?”
After returning from Vietnam, John went to work in Groton. Today, he deals with numerous health problems that arose from exposure to Agent Orange. He says that every Vietnam veteran he knows deals with such issues. “It’s a race to see who will be gone first, Vietnam or World War II veterans,” he said.
“We didn’t talk about being in the war,” said John. “We did what we thought was right, and then we came home and people spit on us.” This went on for 14 years. “When they built the Vietnam Wall,” said John, “that’s when it began to change. People felt badly about how they’d treated us, and they started to try to make up for it.”
An 80 percent replica of that wall was the focal point for a display at Howard T. Brown Park. Escorted by police and over 1,000 motorcycles down Route 32 from Montville to the harbor, the wall was set up along the river and left on display for four days. It was accompanied by a display honoring veterans from every American conflict, from the Revolutionary War through modern times. To accompany the display, members of the Richard E. Hourigan VFW Post 594, overseen by Richard DeLorge and Evelyn Bessette, organized a number of events honoring WWII, Korean, and Vietnam veterans.
On an overcast Saturday afternoon, visitors and dignitaries, including Congressman Joe Courtney, state Sen. Edith Prague, Rep. Kevin Ryan, and Rep. Christopher Coutu, gathered at the gazebo by the river to remember those who never came home from the Vietnam conflict, and pay homage to those who did. “Thank them for their service ,” said Melvin Hewston, junior vice commander for the Connecticut VFW, who served during both the Vietnam and Gulf War conflicts. “That’s the one thing none of us got back in the ‘60s and ‘70s when we came home.”
“The hardest thing is transitioning back [into normal life],” said Hewston. “These guys never got help with that.”
Editorial
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney: New Legislation Can Even Playing Field For Self-Employed
Norwich Bulletin
By: Joe Courtney
June 22, 2009
As America embarks on a historic debate about how to reform its health care system, one measurement of success should be the ability of self-employed entrepreneurs to access affordable coverage, regardless of prior medical condition or age. Under today’s status quo, that measurement fails miserably.
For an individual adult striking out on his own, federal law provides minimal protection from coverage denial or having the most innocuous pre-existing condition create a serious barrier in the form of high deductibles or exorbitant premiums. Innovators, doctors or lawyers in a sole practice, artists, and plumbers — you name it — all get hammered in the current health insurance marketplace.
Unlike Americans who work for large employers, the slightest physical “condition” such as an old sports injury, a cesarean section, domestic violence, or diabetes can have the effect of “red-lining” the self-employed into health care purgatory.
Last try at reform
It’s been 13 years since Congress tried to address this issue of benefit portability. Enactment of 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) made some gains in outlawing preexisting condition barriers for Americans switching jobs. Although not completely seamless, it did help. However, these reforms did not extend to the individual market, which today covers an estimated 14 million Americans. With 135 million people experiencing some form of chronic medical condition, the system simply doesn’t work for that segment fulfilling the American Dream of self-employment.
It’s time to banish to the dustbin of history the practice of medical underwriting based on pre-existing conditions.
To accomplish that, I introduced H.R. 1558, the Pre-existing Condition Patient Protection Act, in the House and U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia simultaneously introduced the companion bill in the Senate. This measure provides the same protection to individuals that HIPAA provides for those in large group plans. With more than 60 co-sponsors, it’s been endorsed by patient advocacy groups, physician groups and AARP.
Too many rejections
As AARP pointed out, “Insurance industry data show that insurers reject between 17 percent and 28 percent of applicants aged 50-64.” Adult women feel the brunt of denial and high deductibles in the individual market.
The American Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists stepped forward as one of the most passionate advocates because of the outrage witnessed everyday when their patients are penalized by the status quo’s tolerance of pre-existing condition penalties.
President Obama wants to collaborate with all stakeholders. That collaboration should not serve as an excuse to perpetuate the type of inequalities. Passage of H.R. 1558 will bring not only economic justice to America’s self-employed, but also the risktaker’s contribution to America’s economy.
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney represents the 2nd Congressional District and is a member of the Health Subcommittee of the House Education and Labor Committee.
EDITORIAL: Dairy Farms Are A Way of Life Worth Saving
Hartford Courant
June 21, 2009
Sarah Brush lives on a lush, 160-acre dairy farm in Bozrah that has been in her family for more than 100 years. "I see the same sunrises and sunsets that my great-grandmother did," she says. But with the recession sending the price of milk plummeting, Brush and her husband, Texas Moon, have had to rely on savings to get by while milking 40 cows.
For small dairy farmers, the business can be both backbreaking and heartbreaking. In January, 100 pounds of milk — about 11 gallons — sold for $11.32. In New England, it cost $20.50 to produce that amount, according to federal estimates. Since then, the price has risen to nearly $14. That still means dairy farmers have to work 100 hours a week to produce a crucial food and lose money doing so.
It's also why, in one of the few bipartisan gestures of this fractured legislative season, the governor and General Assembly have agreed to make up some of the difference between what it costs to produce milk and what it sells for. The cost to the state will be just shy of $10 million a year for the next two years.
State Agriculture Commissioner F. Philip Prelli said the bill is hardly a permanent solution: "It's a Band-Aid." He said the problem is larger than any one state alone, but will require leadership from the federal government to solve.
Inevitably, some snipe that the state is protecting dairy farmers when other groups are left to survive on their own.
But trust me: Connecticut dairy farmers will still struggle to break even, working seven days a week in an industry that fewer people want to enter with every generation.
Connecticut has lost more than 6,000 dairy farms since 1940. In 2000, the state had 240 dairy farms. There are just 151 today. Four have tossed in the towel since January. Every farm lost to development means more pavement, more cul-de-sacs, more sprawl choking the very characteristics that make this state beautiful. We can't afford to lose more farms.
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney says that last year's agriculture appropriations bill included subsidies for dairy farms with fewer than 150 cows. But farmers will still be at their wit's end in this recession. "The problem is much bigger than Connecticut — bigger even than America. World demand has fallen," he said.
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who heads the House agriculture subcommittee, wants the federal government to consider production costs when setting milk prices. "It would not have an immediate impact ... but would stabilize dairy farmers' prices and provide them with much more economic certainty," she said.
Certainty is something that dairy farmers don't have. The state's just-passed safety net will help, but farmers won't get any payments until October, there is no guarantee that the money will be adequate, and it's temporary. When the law ends in two years, farmers may face the same difficulties.
Massachusetts, in contrast, has a tax credit that is activated as soon as the price gap between producing milk and selling it falls to a certain level. Connecticut and all of New England need to create a policy to keep this crucial industry viable.
Brush and her husband have three children. The family doesn't have cable TV, cellphones or other trappings of modern life that most take for granted. The kids are the fifth generation to live on the farm. It's a heritage they can be proud of, and one worth preserving.
LTE
LTE: Fire-Rescue Boat Keeps Old Saybrook Safer
The Day
June 21, 2009
The officers and firefighters of the Old Saybrook Fire Department salute the citizens of Old Saybrook for supporting the purchase of a fire-rescue boat. This boat replaces the boat that was lost in a storm in March 2008.
Since the loss of our boat we received extraordinary support and guidance from First Selectman Mike Pace, Treasurer Robert Fish, Old Saybrook's Board of Finance, Sens. Joseph Lieberman and Chris Dodd, Rep. Joseph Courtney and state Rep. Marilyn Guiliano.
The Old Saybrook Police Department, through Chief Edmund Mosca, worked with the fire department to share the police boat when it was not on patrol. Also, John Manafort of Island Cove Marina provided a boat for firefighters to respond to emergencies during last year's boating season, continuing until this fall when the new boat will arrive.
Many Old Saybrook organizations and groups allowed us to present our case for replacing the lost boat. Hard questions were asked of us, and we were given an honest opportunity to present our case. The overwhelming support of Old Saybrook citizens for volunteer firefighters is appreciated.
This new life-saving vessel will serve our community for decades, while at the same time keeping firefighters safe.
Editor's note: The writer is Old Saybrook fire chief.
Clark D. Maxson Old Saybrook
"Old Saybrook-CT"
Andrew Bray
Legislative Correspondent/Press Assistant
Congressman Joe Courtney (CT - 2)
215 Cannon HOB | Washington, DC 20515
202.225.2089 | andrew.bray@mail.house.gov
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