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.