To The Editor:
The main issue facing Connecticut and the nation is the weak economy that threatens jobs and the quality of education, health care, transportation, and services that we take for granted. The excesses and irresponsibility of Wall Street have had an impact here in our state and around the world.
The implications for the state are not good. The nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis (OFA) has estimated that Connecticut faces an $8.7 billion deficit over the next two years because of the sharp decline in revenue. In January and early February, Gov. Rell agreed in statements to the press and public that the deficit exceeded $8 billion, but her proposed budget released in February only addressed a $6 billion deficit. The governor denied that the budget was out of balance until just two weeks ago, when she conceded it was out of balance by at least $1 billion.
Compared to the OFA numbers, the governor’s budget is about $2.7 billion short. In addition, since the time of the release of the governor’s budget, we have discovered that the bulk of Rell’s proposed cuts and borrowing will not work — borrowing $350 million from energy funds will deny the state federal stimulus energy dollars; the same is true for her proposed cuts to health care for the poor — the state could lose more than $1 billion in new federal Medicaid dollars.
In the two and a half months since the governor’s budget was released, there has been no attempt by the governor to supplement her proposal and offer a truly balanced budget.
We hope to begin meaningful budget negotiations with the governor next week. The early passage of the budget at the committee level gives us more time to resolve this during the regular session. And if the governor or our Republican colleagues disagree with parts of our balanced budget, that’s fair. That’s part of the process. We simply ask that they be part of the solution, and put their ideas and alternatives on the table for the legislature and the public to scrutinize in the same way that we have already done.
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Donald E. Williams Jr.
Senate President
Connecticut General Assembly
