Gov. Dannel Malloy has taken the General Assembly to task for failing to vote on even a provisional budget, singling out the House leadership and any rank-and-file member absent from Connecticut as the fiscal year nears its end today.
Without a two-year budget or a temporary budget in place by midnight Friday, Malloy will be required to sign an executive order that allows him to maintain essential state services and satisfy obligations considered crucial to the state. He will only be allowed to allocate funds under his executive authority and will not be able to increase revenues.
“Democrats and Republicans in the House failed to act on a measure that would have received bipartisan support in the Senate,” Malloy said. “The short-term budget was not a perfect solution, nor was it intended to be. It was designed to be a responsible, interim measure that would allow us to craft a full two-year budget.”
The governor said that the provisional budget would have avoided or mitigated “painful cuts” to towns and nonprofits, and that it would have preserved the summer youth employment and rental assistance programs.
“But rather than take that bill up, rather than act, we were instead treated to multiple days of conflicting and confusing statements from both leaders in the House,” he said. “We heard that it didn”™t respect their process ”“ a process which, I remind you, failed to deliver an Appropriations Committee budget in April, failed to deliver a single budget vote before the end of session, and has now failed to deliver a budget before July 1.”
Malloy blasted fellow Democrats”™ two-year, $40.11 billion plan, which would boost General Fund spending about 2 percent annually and ask municipal teachers to pay more for pensions and give up their third successive tax break on pension income. That plan “by all accounts is designed to preserve the status quo,” he said.
Under the leadership of state Senator and President Pro Tempore Martin Looney (D-New Haven) and House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz (D-Berlin), the Democrats plan to offer their proposal for a vote on July 18.
Malloy also took a swing at House Republicans, saying that “despite their repeated claims, their caucus does not have a budget that is ready to run.
“I”™ve had enough,” Malloy said. “We have a choice before us: We can either confront our challenges with urgency or we can go home without trying. Public service is about putting the state”™s interests ahead of your own, and the people of Connecticut should demand more from their state representatives.”
