Unless U.S. Congress members take further action, Connecticut officials are bracing for roughly $58.7 million in lost federal funding for the 2013 fiscal year.
Office of Policy and Management Secretary Ben Barnes wrote state agencies earlier last month, saying to prepare for reduce or ceased programming, as the state does not intend to make up or replace the lost funding.
“These cuts promise to be unnecessarily disruptive of government services and may also serve to further weaken Connecticut”™s economy,” Barnes wrote.
Already the state is facing a $131.3 million projected budget deficit for the year, according to a March 1 estimate by the Comptroller’s Office.
The majority of cuts will hit programs related to health, education, children and military readiness, according to White House reports.
About 3,000 Connecticut U.S. Department of Defense employees would be furloughed, saving $15 million, and two Navy demolition projects at New London would be canceled, cutting $13 million in funding.
Among the largest cuts is about $8.7 million in primary and secondary education funding, putting roughly 120 teachers”™ jobs at risk and an additional $6.3 million in cuts for 80 teachers, aides and staff who help children with disabilities.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding for clean water and air, job search assistance, child care, public health, work-study jobs, domestic abuse and crime prevention and senior nutrition would also be cut.
To get Congress to act, Rep. Jim Himes, a Greenwich Democrat, said he believes it will take the American people to speak out in favor of entitlement reform and new revenue sources.
“It embarrasses me that our government can’t reach the a grand bargain more quickly,” he said. “It seems to take a crisis to get government to act.”
