Washington

Washington -– As the U.S. Census Bureau collects information about housing from Connecticut residents in the next few months, the agency faces trouble in Washington.

The sequester, or across-the-board federal spending cuts, are digging deep into the agency's budget and conservative Republicans want to gut or eliminate many of its programs.

That’s making a broad coalition of academics, business leader, advertisers and others dependent on census data very nervous. 

Washington –- A key Senate panel Thursday approved the nomination of Gina McCarthy for the top job at the Environmental Protection Agency on a strictly partisan vote.

All 10 Democratic members of the Environment and Public Works Committee voted for the nominee, including an ailing New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg who has hardly been on Capitol Hill since February.

Washington – Hundreds of civilian workers at Naval Submarine Base New London will get a break from forced unpaid leave, but not much of one.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Tuesday said he would cut back – from 14 to 11 -- the number of furlough days civilians working for the Pentagon must take this summer. The furloughs arefu mandated by the sequester, or recent across-the-board cuts to the federal budget.