President Barack Obama asked, and many Connecticut residents listened - and acted.

Before the president's television address Monday night, U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney's email inbox and website were already jammed with messages from constituents worried about the debt-ceiling crisis.

And "99 percent" of those messages support protecting social safety-net programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, said Jenny Contois, Courtney's district director.

Contois made the point to about 20 members of Moveon.org who staged a rally Tuesday afternoon outside the Norwich office of the 2nd District representative.

Far from protesting Courtney's positions, however, the rally participants held signs supporting him and asking him and other Democrats to stand firm against demands by "right wing Republicans" for deep spending cuts.

"They want to take my 84-year-old mother-in-law and give her a voucher and have her pick out an insurance plan," said Cheryl Thomas of Danielson, referring to a plan to privatize Medicare through a voucher system. "She can't even figure out the cable TV remote."

The group stood on the sidewalk at noon soliciting honks of support from passing motorists for Medicare, Social Security, jobs and public education.

Then they marched up the two flights of stairs at the Thames Plaza on Water Street and into Courtney's office.

The group signed a letter to Courtney urging him to in turn endorse a letter presented by the Congressional Progressive Caucus to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to oppose deep spending cuts.

Norwich resident and attorney Samuel Browning added his own personal letter Tuesday, saying he is "appalled" at the possibility that Obama might "give in" to the Republican Party.

"Obama needs to stop being a wuss," Browning's letter read. "The Republicans are playing a zero sum game in which they want to destroy his presidency. If he gives in to them, they'll roll over him for the rest of his term. If he doesn't want to stand up to them, he needs to let the Democratic Party nominate someone to run in his place in 2012."

Reached by telephone later Tuesday afternoon, Courtney said he appreciated the stance of his constituents - and their frustration. He said he would review the Progressive Caucus letter but said a letter he signed as one of 33 members of the Task Force on Seniors offered similar positions with specifics on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

"The whole idea of block-granting Medicaid and a voucher plan for Medicare goes against me," Courtney said.

A 'balanced' approach

Courtney was the first Democrat to take the House floor Tuesday to deliver a statement warning that the plan written by Republican House Speaker John Boehner would lead to the downgrading of the U.S. bond rating. Raising the debt limit short-term would not satisfy bond-rating agencies and would cause the crisis to recur again and again in the near future, he said.

Courtney called for a "balanced" approach to the debt-ceiling and deficit-cutting crisis.

As he spoke Tuesday afternoon he was handed a note saying that Obama had just announced he would veto the Boehner bill if it passed the House.

Courtney supports raising federal revenues through closing tax loopholes, allowing tax breaks passed under President George W. Bush to expire and cutting tax breaks to oil companies. But Courtney conceded those talks likely will be delayed until after the 2012 elections.

Coutu for spending cuts

State Rep. Chris Coutu, R-Norwich, who hopes to win the Republican nomination to challenge Courtney in 2012, said that if he were in Congress now, he would be open to supporting a plan that provides a short-term increase to the debt limit in exchange for significant spending cuts.

In contrast to some hard-line Republicans in office, Coutu said he could support closing tax loopholes to generate additional revenue if that's what it takes to reach a bipartisan deal that would avert a default.

However, Coutu said he would not support a significant increase to the debt ceiling, such as that in the plan by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, that would carry through the 2012 election.

"We need to do massive structural spending cuts," Coutu said.

Blumenthal backs Reid plan

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, said Tuesday afternoon that his office has been fielding a surge of constituent phone calls about the debt ceiling since late last week. Since Obama's speech Monday, the number of calls seems to have tripled, Blumenthal said.

Failure to raise the statutory ceiling would devastate the economy and the jobs market, Blumenthal said, as it would result in higher interest rates for businesses and consumers in everything from mortgages to credit cards.

Blumenthal said he supports Reid's plan that would cut $2.7 trillion in spending and provide the president with the authority for the full $2.4 billion in new borrowing to carry through the 2012 election. The plan would not raise taxes or generate additional revenue.

"Most importantly it protects vital programs such as Medicare and Social Security and therefore avoids reducing the deficit on the backs of our seniors or our most vulnerable citizens," Blumenthal said.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman said the long-serving Democrat-turned-independent thinks it is imperative that Congress raise the debt ceiling. As part of that plan, "we have to seriously address the problem of our long-term deficit so that we do not leave our children saddled with an unbearable debt," spokeswoman Whitney Philips said.

"Rather than worry about whether we end up adopting a Republican proposal or a Democratic proposal, the imperative is that we adopt a serious proposal."

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy wrote a letter last week to Democratic and Republican congressional leaders, urging an immediate increase to the debt limit.

"Failure to increase the debt ceiling and fulfill the financial obligations already authorized by Congress would do great harm to this nation," Malloy said. "For Connecticut, such a failure would result in a serious disruption to our cash flow, negatively affect our access to the capital markets and harm our local economy."

Malloy called for a plan that involves both spending cuts and revenue increases, but that spares cuts to state funding or graduate medical education.

In a statement Tuesday afternoon, Malloy called on Congress to pass a "long-term increase" to the debt limit, as a short-term increase "would merely extend the economic uncertainty that already has damaged our economic recovery."

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