Washington gives state 15 billion reasons to smile

[Judi Lynn]

Washington gives state 15 billion reasons to smile

Monday, October 18, 2004

By Matt Apuzzo


Copyright © 2004 AP Wire

HARTFORD -- When Uncle Sam isn't shopping Connecticut for Black Hawk helicopters and nuclear submarines, he's here producing musicals, buying lunches for school children, translating Vietnamese poetry and reminding us to buckle up.

Need to find a new home? Brush up on a foreign language? Restore an antique painting? It's on Washington, courtesy of a record level of federal spending in Connecticut last year.

The U.S. government spent $15.4 billion here during the 2003 budget cycle, surpassing Connecticut's own budget for the first time on record, according to a massive federal report issued last month.

In four years, federal spending on salaries, products and grants in Connecticut has nearly doubled. Connecticut receives more federal money per capita than all but eight states.

"I think that's great," said U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, whose eastern Connecticut district benefited from Connecticut's $8.4 billion share of defense spending. "If it's not being spent here, it's going to be spent somewhere else."
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