Month: April 2025

SENS. LOONEY, DUFF AND CABRERA CRITICIZE TRUMP TARIFF IMPACT ON HOMEOWNER INSURANCE POLICIES & NEW HOME BUILDING COSTS

Posted on by Devin James

SENS. LOONEY, DUFF AND CABRERA CRITICIZE TRUMP TARIFF IMPACT ON HOMEOWNER INSURANCE POLICIES & NEW HOME BUILDING COSTS

HARTFORD – A new report details yet another damaging economic impact of President Donald Trump’s global tariff scheme: homeowner insurance policies in Connecticut are expected to increase by an average $82 this year due solely to Trump’s tariff war.

The report by Insurify notes that Trump’s tariffs on goods made in Canada, China and Mexico will be especially harmful to American homeowners because Americans import 70% of their lumber from Canda, 71% of their wallboard from Mexico, and 54% of their home appliances from China.

Trump’s tariffs on these countries will result in higher product costs, which results in higher rebuilding costs and therefore higher insurance premiums for homes that are insured against damage by fire, floods, hurricanes and other catastrophic events.

At $82 per home, Connecticut’s insurance premium increase – based on a home value of $400,000 –  is one of the highest in the entire Northeast, surpassing projected premium rate hikes  in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and nearly equaling insurance premium rate hikes in New York and Rhode Island.

Not only are Trump’s tariffs adding to the cost of insurance premiums in Connecticut, they’re also driving up the cost of new home construction at a time when Connecticut needs to build 100,0000 new housing units. The National Association of Homebuilders estimates that Trump’s tariffs alone will now add $10,900 to the cost of building a new home.

“Donald Trump’s capacity for inflicting pain on middle-class Americans seems to know no bounds,” said Senate President Martin M. Looney (D-New Haven) and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk). “At every turn, Trump’s public policy decisions are costing Americans billions of dollars in stock losses, local budget cuts, and now increased homeowner expenses. Every week brings some new, horrid news out of the Trump administration, and all of it is costly and damaging to average Americans.”

“On the Insurance Committee we spend a lot of time figuring out ways to get people to spend less on insurance costs. What we can’t control is a president who engages in a failed tariff war and who drives up insurance and re-building costs for Connecticut homeowners,” said state Senator Jorge Cabrera (D-Hamden), who is Senate Chair of the Insurance and Real Estate Committee. “There seems to be no end to the economic destruction that the Trump administration intends to inflict on America.”

SENATOR ANWAR OPPOSES TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER ATTACKING CIVIL RIGHTS ACT

Posted on by Devin James

SENATOR ANWAR OPPOSES TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER ATTACKING CIVIL RIGHTS ACT

Today, State Senator Saud Anwar (D-South Windsor) issued a statement standing alongside his colleagues and condemning an executive order released Wednesday by the Trump administration seeking to weaken the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The order directs for the potential rollback of Title VI and Title VII enforcement, which if implemented would allow for discrimination in federal programs and employment and impact civil rights laws in housing, lending and employment:

“In a country built on the principles and defined by the ideals of equality and freedom, this executive order is chilling not only in its brazen attack on civil rights but its desire to return America to a time when redlining and Jim Crow laws created two classes of Americans. The integrity of an individual is the most defining part of their person, not the color of their skin, the religion they worship or the nation they hail from, and we must continue to fight discrimination in all forms. In a country formed to escape oppression and tyranny, we cannot go back to a past that our ancestors fought to change.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Joe O’Leary | Joe.OLeary@cga.ct.gov | 508-479-4969

Sen. Lesser Statement on Terrorist Attack in Kashmir

Posted on by Devin James

Sen. Lesser Statement on Terrorist Attack in Kashmir

State Senator Matt Lesser released a statement on Tuesday’s terrorist attack on Kashmir that has killed 26 people and left many in mourning.

“Our 9th district has a strong and vibrant South Asian community and I stand with my constituents in expressing horror about the recent terrorist attack on tourists and civilians in Kashmir. There can be no excuse for this despicable action.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Garnet McLaughlin | Garnet.McLaughlin@cga.ct.gov

Looney, Duff, Winfield Denounce Trump’s Attempt to Roll Back Civil Rights Act

Posted on by Devin James

Looney, Duff, Winfield Denounce Trump’s Attempt to Roll Back Civil Rights Act

HARTFORD – Today, Senate President Martin Looney (D-New Haven), Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk), and Senator Gary Winfield (D-New Haven), Senate Chair of the Judiciary Committee, released a statement condemning Trump’s Wednesday Executive Order attacking decades of fundamental civil rights law. The Trump administration is attempting to roll back Title VI and Title VII enforcement, which will allow for discrimination in federally funded programs and employment, seeking to deprioritize civil rights laws in housing, lending, and employment, and ordering a review of pending civil rights cases. The Executive Order would undo much of the protections under the Civil Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

“This Executive Order is a shameful assault on the very principles of equality and justice that define our democracy. It attempts to turn back the clock on decades of hard-fought progress, opening the door to sanctioned discrimination in every corner of American life. Disparate-impact liability has played a significant role in ensuring fairness from the workplace to the classroom to the bank. We will not stand by while the federal government dismantles civil rights protections that generations have marched, fought, and died to secure.”

Looney, Duff, Winfield Denounce Trump’s Attempt to Roll Back Civil Rights Act

Posted on by Devin James

Looney, Duff, Winfield Denounce Trump’s Attempt to Roll Back Civil Rights Act

HARTFORD – Today, Senate President Martin Looney (D-New Haven), Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk), and Senator Gary Winfield (D-New Haven), Senate Chair of the Judiciary Committee, released a statement condemning Trump’s Wednesday Executive Order attacking decades of fundamental civil rights law. The Trump administration is attempting to roll back Title VI and Title VII enforcement, which will allow for discrimination in federally funded programs and employment, seeking to deprioritize civil rights laws in housing, lending, and employment, and ordering a review of pending civil rights cases. The Executive Order would undo much of the protections under the Civil Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

“This Executive Order is a shameful assault on the very principles of equality and justice that define our democracy. It attempts to turn back the clock on decades of hard-fought progress, opening the door to sanctioned discrimination in every corner of American life. Disparate-impact liability has played a significant role in ensuring fairness from the workplace to the classroom to the bank. We will not stand by while the federal government dismantles civil rights protections that generations have marched, fought, and died to secure.”

Looney, Duff, Winfield Denounce Trump’s Attempt to Roll Back Civil Rights Act

Posted on by Devin James

Looney, Duff, Winfield Denounce Trump’s Attempt to Roll Back Civil Rights Act

HARTFORD – Today, Senate President Martin Looney (D-New Haven), Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk), and Senator Gary Winfield (D-New Haven), Senate Chair of the Judiciary Committee, released a statement condemning Trump’s Wednesday Executive Order attacking decades of fundamental civil rights law. The Trump administration is attempting to roll back Title VI and Title VII enforcement, which will allow for discrimination in federally funded programs and employment, seeking to deprioritize civil rights laws in housing, lending, and employment, and ordering a review of pending civil rights cases. The Executive Order would undo much of the protections under the Civil Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

“This Executive Order is a shameful assault on the very principles of equality and justice that define our democracy. It attempts to turn back the clock on decades of hard-fought progress, opening the door to sanctioned discrimination in every corner of American life. Disparate-impact liability has played a significant role in ensuring fairness from the workplace to the classroom to the bank. We will not stand by while the federal government dismantles civil rights protections that generations have marched, fought, and died to secure.”

Looney, Duff and McCrory Decry Executive Order Undermining Equity in School Discipline

Posted on by Devin James

Looney, Duff and McCrory Decry Executive Order Undermining Equity in School Discipline

HARTFORD – Senate President Martin Looney, Majority Leader Bob Duff and Senator Doug McCrory condemned Thursday a new executive order from President Donald Trump, which reverses policies designed to address long-standing racial disparities in school disciplinary actions.

These policies have sought to keep more students in classrooms across the country. However the order, one of several signed by Trump on Wednesday, rolls back federal guidance, which had previously advised schools to adjust their disciplinary policies if students of color were found to be suspended or expelled from school at a disproportionate rate.

“This executive order from the Trump administration is troubling, given that large disparities already exist in how discipline is applied in classrooms across the country,” Senators Looney and Duff said. “Policies that endeavor to address those inequities are not ‘ideological,’ they are grounded in statistics that demonstrate that the American education system has disproportionately penalized Black and Brown students. Reversing those policies doesn’t make anyone safer; it simply reinforces the injustices we should be working to end. It’s yet another cruel and regressive directive from an administration intent on undermining the futures of those who aren’t wealthy and white. Our kids deserve better.”

“One look at the data should be enough to clear up any misconceptions about the ‘fairness’ of school disciplinary policies,” said Senator McCrory, Senate Chair of the legislature’s Education Committee. “Here’s the headline: Black and Brown kids are being kicked out of schools far more often and far longer than their white counterparts who engage in the same behavior. That was before this destructive new executive order.  We must do better than this for the sake of an entire generation of young people, who are entitled to an education system that prepares them for success instead of putting a target on their backs.”

Disparities in the application of school discipline are longstanding and exist in states across the country, including Connecticut. In 2015, the General Assembly took action to address the issue in an effort to ensure more students stay in school. Connecticut law, with certain exceptions, prohibits local school boards from imposing out-of-school suspension on students in grades pre-K through two.

Looney, Duff and McCrory Decry Executive Order Undermining Equity in School Discipline

Posted on by Devin James

Looney, Duff and McCrory Decry Executive Order Undermining Equity in School Discipline

HARTFORD – Senate President Martin Looney, Majority Leader Bob Duff and Senator Doug McCrory condemned Thursday a new executive order from President Donald Trump, which reverses policies designed to address long-standing racial disparities in school disciplinary actions.

These policies have sought to keep more students in classrooms across the country. However the order, one of several signed by Trump on Wednesday, rolls back federal guidance, which had previously advised schools to adjust their disciplinary policies if students of color were found to be suspended or expelled from school at a disproportionate rate.

“This executive order from the Trump administration is troubling, given that large disparities already exist in how discipline is applied in classrooms across the country,” Senators Looney and Duff said. “Policies that endeavor to address those inequities are not ‘ideological,’ they are grounded in statistics that demonstrate that the American education system has disproportionately penalized Black and Brown students. Reversing those policies doesn’t make anyone safer; it simply reinforces the injustices we should be working to end. It’s yet another cruel and regressive directive from an administration intent on undermining the futures of those who aren’t wealthy and white. Our kids deserve better.”

“One look at the data should be enough to clear up any misconceptions about the ‘fairness’ of school disciplinary policies,” said Senator McCrory, Senate Chair of the legislature’s Education Committee. “Here’s the headline: Black and Brown kids are being kicked out of schools far more often and far longer than their white counterparts who engage in the same behavior. That was before this destructive new executive order.  We must do better than this for the sake of an entire generation of young people, who are entitled to an education system that prepares them for success instead of putting a target on their backs.”

Disparities in the application of school discipline are longstanding and exist in states across the country, including Connecticut. In 2015, the General Assembly took action to address the issue in an effort to ensure more students stay in school. Connecticut law, with certain exceptions, prohibits local school boards from imposing out-of-school suspension on students in grades pre-K through two.

Looney, Duff and McCrory Decry Executive Order Undermining Equity in School Discipline

Posted on by Devin James

Looney, Duff and McCrory Decry Executive Order Undermining Equity in School Discipline

HARTFORD – Senate President Martin Looney, Majority Leader Bob Duff and Senator Doug McCrory condemned Thursday a new executive order from President Donald Trump, which reverses policies designed to address long-standing racial disparities in school disciplinary actions.

These policies have sought to keep more students in classrooms across the country. However the order, one of several signed by Trump on Wednesday, rolls back federal guidance, which had previously advised schools to adjust their disciplinary policies if students of color were found to be suspended or expelled from school at a disproportionate rate.

“This executive order from the Trump administration is troubling, given that large disparities already exist in how discipline is applied in classrooms across the country,” Senators Looney and Duff said. “Policies that endeavor to address those inequities are not ‘ideological,’ they are grounded in statistics that demonstrate that the American education system has disproportionately penalized Black and Brown students. Reversing those policies doesn’t make anyone safer; it simply reinforces the injustices we should be working to end. It’s yet another cruel and regressive directive from an administration intent on undermining the futures of those who aren’t wealthy and white. Our kids deserve better.”

“One look at the data should be enough to clear up any misconceptions about the ‘fairness’ of school disciplinary policies,” said Senator McCrory, Senate Chair of the legislature’s Education Committee. “Here’s the headline: Black and Brown kids are being kicked out of schools far more often and far longer than their white counterparts who engage in the same behavior. That was before this destructive new executive order.  We must do better than this for the sake of an entire generation of young people, who are entitled to an education system that prepares them for success instead of putting a target on their backs.”

Disparities in the application of school discipline are longstanding and exist in states across the country, including Connecticut. In 2015, the General Assembly took action to address the issue in an effort to ensure more students stay in school. Connecticut law, with certain exceptions, prohibits local school boards from imposing out-of-school suspension on students in grades pre-K through two.

Looney, Duff, Slap Condemn Trump’s Latest Attack on Higher Education

Posted on by Devin James

Looney, Duff, Slap Condemn Trump’s Latest Attack on Higher Education

HARTFORD – Today, Senate President Martin Looney, Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, and Senator Derek Slap, Senate Chair of the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee, issued a statement condemning President Donald Trump’s latest attack on institutions of higher education. In an Executive Order announced Wednesday night, President Trump took aim at the accreditation process which allows approved institutions to accept Pell grants and federal student loans, which account for more than $120 billion a year nationwide.

“One of Connecticut’s greatest resources is our colleges and universities and our belief in higher education as a pathway to opportunity.

“Institutions of higher education have always enjoyed freedom from government overreach as they foster free thinking and educate the future leaders of our country. Through attacking accreditors, Donald Trump continues his witch hunt to quell educational freedom in favor of advancing his own political agenda.

“While attacking long-standing accreditation agencies, the President is encouraging the creation of new, Trump-approved accreditors who will no doubt pave the way for bad actor institutions to discriminate against their students, or perhaps for a Trump University 2.0.

“The Trump Administration is hell-bent on expanding the reach of the federal government into every classroom, doctor’s office, research lab, board room, law office and nearly every facet of American life. He is following a very specific and a very chilling playbook and we urge Republicans in Connecticut to remember our shared oath and take a stand for their constituents and for our democracy.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kevin Coughlin | kevin.coughlin@cga.ct.gov | 203-710-0193