Connecticut’s congressional delegation has requested tens of millions of dollars in federal funding to support projects in their districts and statewide that range from infrastructure initiatives to local museums to affordable housing development.
Dozens of towns and cities could see investments flow into their communities through funding for nearly 170 projects that are currently included in bills to fund the federal government. As things stand, lawmakers are hoping to secure at least $177 million with the possibility of more funding and requests from the Senate tucked into legislation.
Lawmakers are trying to secure money for these projects and groups — formerly known as earmarks — through the annual appropriations process. But if Congress cannot pass spending bills for fiscal year 2026, towns and cities across Connecticut may not get access to those funds.
When Congress returns to Washington next month, lawmakers will face a quick deadline of Sept. 30 or face a government shutdown. They’re trying to pass full-year funding bills but appear to be more on track to once again approve a short-term bill known as a continuing resolution. The latter would keep things running for a certain amount of time at current levels and might not attach local project funding to it, though more Republicans are eyeing earmarks to be in an agreement to avoid a shutdown.
The uncertain fate of earmarks comes amid the termination and delays of various federal grants and funding by the Trump administration. In some capacities, states and localities that rely on federal dollars will need to make up that funding to keep certain programs running and address those gaps through state budgeting.
That also comes on top of a recently passed rescissions package proposed by the administration that clawed back millions of dollars of international aid and public broadcasting funds that had been appropriated by Congress.
Some Democratic appropriators are wondering whether they can “trust” any funding agreements negotiated with the majority party because the administration could once again decide to withhold funding that Congress approves.
“Of course those projects are really important to our districts and to our states. But it’s not reason alone to support a bill,” U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy told reporters at the Capitol last month before the month-long recess. The Connecticut senator is the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security.
He has been the lone vote on some funding bills in his committee. Before lawmakers went on the August recess, he was one of only nine Senate Democrats who opposed passage of the first few funding bills. While leadership is pushing for a bipartisan process, Murphy has been wary, given the current state of federal funding.
“I don’t know that any guarantee that the president makes is something you can take to the bank,” Murphy said. “I don’t think the bills we’re voting on are actually what’s going to happen,” referring to Trump’s push for a rescissions package that cut congressionally appropriated funds.
Possible funding for local projects across CT
Since the revival of earmarks in a limited capacity in 2021, Connecticut and other states have seen a windfall from federal funding bills. But those requests for fiscal year 2025 ultimately went nowhere as lawmakers passed short-term funding patches to keep the government running.
On the House side, nearly all project requests were added into the respective funding bills. Each member didn’t get the exact amounts they requested, which typically happens especially since those funds cannot exceed 1% of total discretionary spending.
Across the five-member delegation, they sought a total of $67 million for nearly 70 recipients. Connecticut’s biggest cities historically benefit greatly, but the funding requests reach all corners of the state.
Some of the projects included in the bills are familiar names that have received federal funding in the past through this process. Others are hoping for a better outcome this time since fiscal year 2025 requests ultimately didn’t go anywhere. And many of the hopeful recipients have received earmarked state funding included in Connecticut’s budget.
Nearly $24 million would go toward housing-related projects, with the vast majority for affordable housing development in places like North Stonington, Madison, Norwalk, Goshen, Hartford, Warren, New Haven and Waterbury.
Universities across Connecticut would also get a sizable boost from the funding bills: Central Connecticut State University for the Central Workforce and Innovation Hub, Wesleyan University’s financial aid program to support formerly incarcerated students, University of New Haven’s de-escalation training center, and Albertus Magnus College’s Cyber Lab.
Senate earmarks, meanwhile, are requested jointly by Connecticut’s Democratic senators. So far, Murphy and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., have almost 100 funding requests included in spending bills.
Unlike their House counterparts, senators don’t have a cap on the number of requests, so they typically bring in much more funding for their states. Some Senate requests also overlap with requests made by a member of the House delegation.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has yet to post the data for congressionally directed spending in three more bills, so Connecticut’s requests and funding may go up. The two senators made another two dozen requests under the Financial Services and General Government, Energy & Water, and Homeland Security bills. Not all of those are guaranteed to make it into the three bills, or the full amounts.
One local recipient is no longer under consideration after Connecticut’s senators asked appropriators to pull it.
The request changed amid a federal investigation looking into state Sen. Douglas McCrory’s involvement with entities that receive state and federal funding and his relationship with a woman who runs some of those groups. Grand jury subpoenas are seeking, among other things, “all documents concerning any personal or non-professional relationship between” McCrory and Sonserae Cicero-Hamlin.
SHEBA Resource Center, a nonprofit run by Cicero-Hamlin, has sought federal funding through the earmarks process a couple of times. The group ultimately didn’t get any funding last year because Congress passed a short-term bill that didn’t include any congressionally directed spending.
She again asked Connecticut’s senators to make a request of $3.5 million for fiscal year 2026, the current appropriations process playing out in Congress. That money would have been used to help SHEBA convert a Hartford church she bought for $10 into new offices.
Cicero-Hamlin and McCrory met with Murphy last year to talk about funding opportunities in North Hartford. It is typical for federal lawmakers to meet with local stakeholders on such issues, especially since they use that information to help inform them on funding requests.
The senators have asked the Senate Appropriations Committee to no longer consider the $3.5 million request, Murphy’s office said last week.
“When we’re being asked for money for specific local organizations, obviously we try to get a sense of how well they’re thought of in the neighborhood or the city,” Murphy said last week. “We rely on local people to make sure we’re dealing with folks who have the best interest of the community in mind.”
Earmarks uncertain as Congress faces tight funding deadline
Earmarks can be mutually advantageous for members of Congress and the people they represent. Lawmakers can steer federal dollars into their states and districts, while constituents see an influx of money for local groups and projects. And politically, they are a way for members to tout the money they are bringing home, especially during an election year.
Many see them as direct ways of reaching the needs of communities that they know best, as well as wielding more influence during the appropriations process. Others have a negative connotation, viewing them as extraneous measures for pet projects that balloon congressional spending.
But earmarks, now known as community project funding in the House and as congressionally-directed spending in the Senate, faced a 10-year ban and were revived in 2021 with more limits and new rules.
Lawmakers and their immediate families must certify they have no financial ties to their requests. State, local and tribal governments as well as nonprofit entities can receive funding, but for-profits are ineligible. House members can request up to 15 projects, but there is no cap on the number for senators.
Connecticut’s appropriators and the rest of the delegation will return next month with a tall order of funding the government at a time when things are politically fraught in Congress.
While the Senate passed its first bipartisan funding package, the process has so far been markedly different in the lower chamber.
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who is the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, has slammed the various GOP-led spending bills during markup hearings last month.
“Republicans have put forward yet another bill that favors billionaires and corporations,” DeLauro said at last month’s hearing on the fiscal year 2026 Financial Services and General Government funding bill. “Yet another bill that does not fight waste, fraud and abuse but embraces it.”
With the government funding process still playing out, that has left the fate of local and state funding in limbo.
If they ultimately get attached to some kind of funding legislation, here are some of the highest-funded requests made by each member of Connecticut’s delegation:
U.S. Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal
Two of the largest Senate requests made jointly by Murphy and Blumenthal came in the funding bill for Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies.
That includes $23 million for the submarine Pier 8 replacement at SUBASE New London in Groton. The bill also includes $7 million for a project to modernize an aviation support facility for the CT Army National Guard.
U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-1st District
In his Hartford-based district, Larson is seeking $3.1 million for Bristol’s Fire and Police Department’s CPAT and ASHER Training Facility as well as $2 million for trail improvements for Hockanum Linear Park in East Hartford.
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District
Two of the largest projects in Courtney’s eastern Connecticut district are about $2 million each slated for the Connecticut Department of Housing to go toward housing upgrades for Country Place Apartments in Colchester as well as money for the town of Mansfield for the second phase of a bike and pedestrian connection project.
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District
The Borough of Naugatuck would get about $2.5 million to help with a Connectivity & Transit Oriented Development Project. Another $2.2 million would go to Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven to convert a vacant building into a community and workforce development hub.
U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District
In the southwestern corner of the state, Himes is seeking $2 million for Stamford’s Housing Authority and Charter Oak Communities with its redevelopment and construction of new units. Another $1.2 million would go toward safety improvements for bikers and pedestrians on Washington Boulevard in Stamford.
U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th District
Hayes has asked for $1.5 million for Southbury Public Library and nearly $1.1 million for the replacement of Toro Field Siphon and help with sewer service around Torrington, Harwinton and Litchfield.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
