Hall Memorial Principal Deb Sullivan during a visit from
Congressman Courtney last November

CAS’ NASSP Liaison Deborah Sullivan, principal of Hall Memorial School in Willington, has been busy lobbying our state and federal legislators on behalf of Connecticut’s schools. Most recently, she reached out to our U.S. Congressmen to urge them to support H.R. 83, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015, which would provide needed investments in foundational education programs such as Title I and IDEA, and a level of fiscal stability for our nation’s students, schools, teachers and principals.

Printed below are the three responses she received.

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FROM: SENATOR CHRISTOPHER MURPHY

Dear Ms. Sullivan,

Thank you for contacting me about the omnibus appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2015. I appreciate your correspondence and hope that you find this response helpful.

On December 13, 2014, the Senate passed a government spending bill for Fiscal Year 2015, with my support. Voting for the omnibus appropriations bill was a tough decision for me. The process that led to this package was another unfortunate example of the dysfunction that has become the norm in Congress, and I was unhappy with a number of the unrelated policy provisions that were dropped in at the last minute. Three such provisions particularly troubled me, including measures that will lead to reduced benefits for beneficiaries of multi-employer pension plans, roll back critical financial regulations, and open up loopholes in our campaign finance laws.

But the alternative to passing this bill would have been worse—another short-term continuing resolution to fund the government for only a few months, or a government shutdown. Either would have inflicted real pain on millions of people in Connecticut and across the country. And while there are a number of things I disagree with in this bill, there are also incredibly important priorities that were too important to be left behind. For one, the bill appropriates billions of dollars to fight Ebola here and overseas—funding that is nothing short of critical to combat this public health nightmare. The bill also supports Connecticut’s economy in major ways, including even more funding than the President originally requested for critical defense programs that are the lifeblood of Connecticut’s economy. Important initiatives to establish advanced manufacturing centers to help grow Connecticut’s next generation of manufacturing industries, and provisions that will support conservation efforts in Connecticut and elsewhere, are further reasons I endorsed this bill.

The bottom line, however, is that Congress needs to stop lurching from manufactured crisis to manufactured crisis. Once again, members of the Senate were faced with a take-it-or-leave-it deal at the last minute. Because we don’t work together like we should, it has become nearly impossible to pass appropriations bills on time and to fund the government in a responsible way. It is my sincere hope that next year will see an end to brinkmanship and a return to regular order—and working toward that goal will be one of my top priorities as a new member of the Appropriations Committee next Congress.
Thank you again for contacting me about this matter. I appreciate hearing from you and assure you that I will always do my best to represent the views of my constituents in the Senate. In the future, please do not hesitate to call me in my Connecticut office at (860) 549-8463 or in my Washington office at (202) 224-4041.

Every Best Wish,

Christopher S. Murphy
United States Senator

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FROM: SENATOR RICHARD BLUMENTHAL

Dear Ms. Sullivan,

Thank you for your message regarding the federal budget. I appreciate hearing from you.

I was very proud to support legislation, which Congress passed in January, that appropriated federal funding for Fiscal Year 2014. This bill was a crucially important first step in the effort to replace the harmful, arbitrary spending cuts enacted by sequestration. Many federal programs that Connecticut citizens depend on, from early childhood education to affordable housing rental assistance, received a much-needed restoration of funding from this spending bill. I was particularly pleased that the agreement recognized the importance of both defense and non-defense programs by supporting the men and women who serve our country, ensuring the safety of our rail transit system, and protecting consumers – to name a few highlights of this comprehensive spending bill.

Congress has passed a temporary funding bill, known as a continuing resolution, to fund the federal government through December 11, 2014. I am hopeful that we can build on the progress established by the Fiscal Year 2014 appropriations process as we continue the process of appropriating funding for Fiscal Year 2015. I appreciate knowing which federal programs are important to you, and I will be sure to keep your thoughts in mind as my colleagues and I move forward with the appropriations process.

Thank you again for your message. If you have further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me again.

Sincerely,

Richard Blumenthal
United States Senate

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FROM: CONGRESSMAN JOE COURTNEY

Dear Ms. Sullivan,

Thank your for contacting me regarding the need to pass a full-year spending bill for our nation’s schools. I appreciate your comments and having the benefit of your views.

I fully agree with you on the need to provide fiscal stability and certainty for our nation’s schools though full-year spending bills. As you note, the Democratic Labor-HHS-Education bill contained funding increases that would be beneficial to our schools. Given the bill’s $131 million increase to Title I grants and its $105 million increase to Special Education grants, I would have strongly supported the measure had the legislation been brought to the floor of the House of the Representatives for a vote. However, the Labor-HHS funding bill was never debated in the House before the looming deadline for Congress to finish its work for the year.

Instead, to complete the budget process for the year, Congress passed the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act (H.R. 83) as a collection of 11 of the 12 bills needed to fund the government. Unfortunately, the bill contained several provisions which had little connection with the underlying $1.1 trillion spending measure. From unrelated special interest giveaways that undermine the protections for our economy against big bank failure to opening up a massive new loophole for super-rich political donors to unfairly influence our democracy, the legislation contained several permanent and objectionable changes that had no place in a one-year spending measure. While I ultimately opposed the 2015 Fiscal Year Omnibus Appropriations bill, please be assured that I firmly support fiscal stability and certainty for our nation and will work with my colleagues in the 114thCongress to produce consistent funding for our nation’s schools.

Again, thank you for sharing your views on this issue with me. Should you have any additional comments or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact me in the future. For more information on my work in Congress, please visit my website at courtney.house.gov and sign up for my e-newsletter. You can also connect with me at facebook.com/joecourtney or receive updates from twitter.com/repjoecourtney.

Sincerely,

JOE COURTNEY
Member of Congress