What is going on here?

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The General Assembly just passed its fourth deficit mitigation bill and still the state is set to end this fiscal year with an $800 million deficit

What is going on here?

The answer is that the Democratic majority has failed to get serious about cutting spending. Despite Governor Rell and the legislative Republicans offering more ideas about spending cuts each and every month, the majority refuses to make the hard choices we need to close our massive deficit.

For example, the last time we had a serious debate about closing the massive budget gap, the Democrats boasted that they could find $220 million in savings from various off-budget accounts. After ignoring several of their own self-imposed deadlines to find this money, the Democrats again last week used their numbers in the House and Senate to push through yet another inadequate deficit mitigation plan. That plan included roughly half – only $110 million – of the couch cushion savings promised by the Democrats.

In addition, the Democrats rejected additional spending cuts that the Republican proposed. For example, the Democrats should have agreed to the Republicans’ request to give up what’s left of their “slush fund” of $2 million used for pork barrel projects.

As the leading Republican Senator on the General Assembly’s Appropriations Committee, I am very concerned about the lack of progress toward either closing this year’s budget deficit, or passing a new two-year state budget before this legislative session ends on June 3rd. To make matters worse, the state is looking at a projected $8 billion deficit over the next two years.

Republicans continue to stand ready to work with the Democratic majority to both close the existing budget deficit, and pass a responsible new budget that provides necessary programs and services at a cost the taxpayers can afford.

We do not have a lot of time left to do right by the people we were elected to represent. Connecticut is in the midst of a recession, unemployment is at 7.9 percent and the businesses left are struggling to survive. The longer we wait to meaningfully address our fiscal problems, the fewer options we will have. Borrowing our way out of the deficit would hurt all of us, now and for years into the future. Emptying the Rainy Day Fund over the next several weeks simply because the legislature’s Democratic majority refuses to make hard decisions would be both harmful and cowardly.

Meanwhile, the new fiscal year begins on July 1st. The Democrats have said they want to fund it by raising taxes by $3.3 billion. Both Republican legislators and Governor Rell have put alternative, more palatable, budget proposals on the table. It is time for the Democratic majority to seriously consider our suggestions, and admit that they need the help we have been offering.

New Interactive Budget Website

Senate Republicans recently launched a new user-friendly website, www.CTBudgetFacts.com, to help guide you through the state budget-setting process . The site allows you to access a number of features including an interactive budget presentation, a layout of the major economic issues facing our state, and an outline of competing budget proposals currently before the legislature. As the General Assembly moves forward with budget negotiations, we hope you take a moment to explore the site and let us know what you think.

An Act Concerning the Penalty for a Capitol Felony

Early last Friday morning, after a debate that lasted nearly eleven hours, the Senate voted 19-17 in support of a proposal to abolish the death penalty, HB 6578, An Act Concerning the Penalty for a Capitol Felony. Although the bill passed both the House and Senate, Governor Rell has stated her intent to veto it, in her words, "as soon as it hits my desk".

Rarely in the Senate do we face decisions that are influenced by such a wide range of factors, be it our families, religion, personal experiences, or simply our human response to horrific events. It was evident from the floor speeches given throughout the night and into the morning that each legislator felt more obligated to vote in line with their conscience than their party.

I voted, along with colleagues on both sides of the aisle, in opposition to this proposal, believing that there are some crimes so horrific that capital punishment is the only adequate form of justice for the perpetrators of these crimes. While I support retaining the death penalty, I believe we need to use it very sparingly. It would be an utter travesty for an individual to be put to death for a crime they did not commit and I know that we bend over backwards to make sure no one on death row is there unjustly. Fundamentally, I believe the death penalty does work as a deterrent and is the only just punishment for certain horrific and heinous crimes.

In addition to deterrence and just punishment, I believe the death penalty is necessary to keep law and order in our correctional facilities. I have six correctional facilities in my district housing over 8,000 individuals, including ten on death row. If an inmate is already in prison for life without the possibility of release, absent the death penalty, there is no deterrent to keep them from killing a correction officer or some other prison employee. In light of this concern, I offered an amendment that would carve out an exemption to the underlying bill for the murder of an employee of the Department of Correction by an inmate, but it was defeated 20-15.

Additional amendments were offered by other Republican senators to carve out exemptions in the case of a death of a police officer, or a member of the armed forces, and to retain capital punishment as a penalty for crimes committed before the implementation date of the bill, all of which were defeated. Nevertheless, Governor Rell will veto HB 6578 and there clearly are not enough votes to override her veto.

A Better Way

Since April of 2008, Republicans have been sounding the alarm on the need to reinvent state government as we know it in order to face the budget crisis we all knew was on the horizon. Unfortunately, Democrats have failed to respond to changing economic conditions over the past year and are now expecting Connecticut taxpayers to foot the bill for their procrastination to the tune of $3.3 billion – the largest tax increase in state history.

State Republicans believe the Democrats plan is heading entirely in the wrong direction and will only serve to increase the financial burden on middle class families and small businesses already struggling to make ends meet.

We know there is a better way. To that end, we set out to draft our own budget proposal – a balanced budget we would pass if we were in the majority. We approached this process from the principal that state government must first exhaust all responsible options for reducing spending and creating efficiencies in the way we do business. Many of the decisions we faced were difficult. Many of the cuts are deep. But, the result is a balanced budget proposal that makes government live within its means and does not raise taxes.

Connecticut taxpayers simply cannot afford the government majority Democrats have created. Over the past six years, state government has grown 36 percent from a budget of $13.6 billion in 2003 to $18.5 billion. At the same time, state auditors and independent news outlets are uncovering examples of government waste and inefficiency everyday. When the state Department of Social Services auditors report, as they recently did, that the state has been sending benefits checks to deceased people, the residents of Connecticut have a right to expect their government to get its own fiscal house in order before reaching into the pockets of taxpayers for a bailout.

Republicans are going to do everything in our power to prevent the Democrats’ proposed $3.3 billion tax increase from becoming a reality. We will continue to drive budget discussions towards solutions that streamline state government and reduce spending.