Connecticut Budget Director Jeff Beckham has defended Gov. Ned Lamont’s support for fiscal guardrails before a key legislative committee.
“If you want to go past the spending cap guardrail you are advocating spending money faster than our taxpayers can make it. So, I think that’s an important guardrail to adhere to,” Beckham said, as he presented Lamont’s 2025 budget adjustments to members of the Appropriations Committee on Thursday.
Democrats on the committee pushed back.
The 2017 guardrails have resulted in cuts to social services, including the American School for the Deaf, complained state Senator Cathy Osten, the committee's co-chair.
“Where we flat fund something, we are not deprioritizing it,” responded Beckham.
“But we have deprioritized the deaf community time and time again since 2017,” replied Osten.
“We got rid of the state office of protection and advocacy. We got rid of the ombudsman, and a group in ADS (the state Department of Aging and Disability Services) that helped handle the deaf community,” she said.
The Democratic majority advocates for adjustments to the guardrails. Republicans on the committee support Lamont’s position.
