Senate Leadership
September 1, 2009
Statement Of Senate Majority Leader Martin M. Looney On Governor Rell’s Decision Re: The 2010-2011 Biennial State Budget
“We now have a budget for the people of Connecticut. That’s the most important thing. We cut $3 billion in state spending, added some long-needed progressivity to our state income tax structure, and we protected some critical and essential state services and programs for parents, children, students, businesses, the elderly and the poor. These are all highly positive outcomes in this biennial budget.
“But I believe it’s unfortunate that Governor Rell late this afternoon ended this fiscal crisis the same way she began it: by avoiding responsibility. Back in February the governor presented the legislature with a budget that was about $2.5 billion out of balance. Now today’s she’s refusing to accept responsibility for a budget that she and her administration were intimately involved in crafting.
“And when the governor complains about having to cut so-called ‘pork-barrel spending’ I wonder if she is going to count in that the money that she and the lieutenant governor added back into this state budget at the last moment for their own Capitol offices.
“Ultimately I think that the governor exhibited some genuine gymnastic skill today, digging in her heels by refusing to actually sign the budget while simultaneously backpedalling away from the tax increases and borrowing levels that she herself was involved in negotiating.”
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Senator Williams’ Derek Slap |
Listing of Leadership’s recent press releases. |
Senator Looney’s Derek Slap |
