Senate Leadership
March 9, 2009
Senate President Requests Bipartisan Budget Meetings Begin This Week
Williams says list of additional cuts required to balance $8.8 billion budget deficit is “deep and devastating.” Calls on the governor to acknowledge extent of fiscal crisis and begin bipartisan talks this Wednesday
Hartford: Senate President Donald E. Williams, Jr. (D-Brooklyn) and Speaker of the House Christopher Donovan (D-Meriden) have received a list of cuts and different cost-cutting scenarios, totaling $2.8 billion, from the co-chairs of the Appropriations Committee that would be necessary to close the budget deficit without raising taxes. The list will be distributed to caucus members and members of the media today.
“These proposed cuts are not cuts that Majority Democrats endorse; rather they are cuts that should give families, lawmakers, and advocates a more accurate picture of what the Governor’s budget would have looked like, had she balanced the budget in keeping with her Constitutional requirement to do so,” said Senator Williams. “If we followed the governor’s approach, cuts of this magnitude would absolutely be necessary to balance the budget. Legislators and the people of Connecticut need to know this basic truth.”
According to the Office of Fiscal Analysis (OFA), the budget deficit for the biennial is more than $8.7 billion, at least $2.7 billion more than the budget gap that Gov. Rell’s proposed budget addresses. The list of cuts would close the gap between the budget deficit estimates relied upon by the Governor and those certified by OFA.
The list is in response to a request from Democratic leadership in the General Assembly, asking the leaders of the Appropriations committee to identify a total of $2.8 billion in new cuts for the next biennial budget.
These cuts are in addition to the cuts already found in the Governor’s biennial budget, and do not supplant those that she has already proposed. Thus, for example, the cuts are in addition to the Governor’s proposed cuts to K-12 and Higher Education, elimination of all legislative commissions and the Offices of the Health Care and Child Advocates, as well as her reductions in healthcare for low-income children, families, and seniors.
“The first step in addressing this problem is to acknowledge and confront the true extent of our fiscal shortfall,” continued Senator Williams. “We hope that Governor Rell will now publicly agree that the deficit we face is far greater than that addressed by her budget. If the governor does not agree that her budget would require the cuts that have been identified in the report, we would ask that she tell us and the people of Connecticut what alternative cuts she would make to balance her budget.”
Senator Williams also said, “These unprecedented times require sacrifice — but that burden must be shared in the fairest possible way for Connecticut families and businesses. I appreciate Gov. Rell’s letter to legislative leaders today requesting bi-partisan discussions begin but I feel it is imperative to begin those talks now, not at the end of the month. We must not delay leadership meetings regarding the budget until the end of the month, or the end of the session, which is the practice in normal years. I want to begin that process this week.”
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Senator Williams’ Derek Slap |
Listing of Leadership’s recent press releases. |
Senator Looney’s Derek Slap |
