It’s the economy. It’s job growth.
Just before Thanksgiving, Gov. M. Jodi Rell sounded the alarms on projected state budget deficits. She announced a $337 million mitigation plan to cut $84 million from already strapped municipalities and another $116 million in cuts that will devastate programs that promote job growth and services that protect our most vulnerable.
Before lurching forward with shortsighted and destructive cuts, consider this:
• Many economists now agree that President Obama’s stimulus policy — investment versus retraction — has helped the country, and Connecticut, begin to emerge from the world-wide economic crisis.
• Numerous indicators suggest our national economy is rebounding: a return to growth in the third quarter; rising consumer confidence; fewer planned layoffs at U.S. firms; a bigger than expected drop in workers seeking unemployment benefits; growth in manufacturing activity, construction spending and contracts to buy homes. In Connecticut, while many industries continue to struggle, we are experiencing job growth in several sectors.
Further, we do not yet know the true extent of a possible deficit. We’ve seen projections that vary by as much as $200 million, and a new state comptroller’s projection is $75 million lower than that of a month ago.
What also is clear is that a vital component of any economic rebound is job growth. We want to keep people in their jobs, put those out of work back to work, and move our economy forward.
To that end, House and Senate majority leaders convened a Job Growth Roundtable this fall, comprising Connecticut’s best business and education leaders, economists, venture capitalists, labor leaders, and elected representatives. The group, like my Small Business Advisory Cabinet, is examining strategies to grow jobs in the short term and strengthen our competitiveness and maximize Connecticut’s assets in the long term. Legislative proposals are expected in February.
In contrast, the actions requested by the governor would cut job growth and economic development programs, such as a $1.5 million cut to eliminate small business incubator program funding and suspending Connecticut youth employment program funding. We can’t pretend there’s no nursing shortage and suspend nurse training programs as she proposes.
Citing findings by the Legislative Program Review and Investigations Committee as well as the opinions of business executives that investment in innovation and education are keys to future economic and job growth, former Office of Policy and Management Secretary William Cibes wrote in the Hartford Courant, “[W]hy is the latest deficit mitigation plan full of proposals to undercut the building blocks of economic development? Why are “fund sweeps” of $6 million from the Biomedical Research Trust Fund and $10 million from the Stem Cell Research Fund being considered? Both support innovative research and development in an industry cluster that is one of Connecticut’s leading competitive assets.”
We also must protect our vulnerable populations. Some $85 million of the Governor’s cuts would affect children and the elderly directly, or cut health care programs for the poor and disabled. She wants to cut $4.9 million to suspend after-school programs and $4.1 million to eliminate dental care for seniors on Medicaid.
Our willingness to bend, but not break, in the last budget go-round means that courthouses stayed open; digital resources, the Internet and book loan services remain offerings at public libraries; HUSKY was protected; students continue their educations at charter and magnet schools; and seniors and disabled individuals can get basic dental care.
Two task forces I established recently to address vulnerable populations — one on Children and the Recession, the other on Domestic Violence — are working hard to develop additional actions we can consider in the next session. Yes, we need to heed the warnings of deficit projections. But we need to consider cost-cutting and saving proposals that aren’t debilitating to those already suffering and that don’t dissuade job growth. Downsizing or closing prisons deserve serious consideration. Pooling health care for municipalities would save them money. We cannot afford to reduce the estate tax for the wealthy as the Governor insisted. We need to look at new findings of the Commission on Enhancing Agency Outcomes, which has identified more than $100 million in potential savings.
Our response must be thoughtful and deliberate. Connecticut deserves more than a slash and burn approach at this critical time.
Christopher G. Donovan (D-Meriden) is speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives.
