Republicans in the Connecticut House and Senate have presented their budget proposal. They say it would cut spending in Governor Dannel Malloy’s proposed budget by $300 million.
The proposal removed several measures in Malloy’s budget, including a real estate tax on hospitals.
State budget talks have stalled between Democrats and Republicans, who share control in the state Senate. Senate Republican President Len Fasano said Democrats should embrace their budget.
“This is the spinal cord for which we could go out bipartisanly, get into a room and start to get down to business to move this along.”
On the House side, Minority Leader Themis Klarides said Democrats blocked them from bringing the Republican budget to the floor for a vote in the Assembly’s Appropriations Committee.
“We have put together a no tax increase budget. That budget is fully vetted. We have asked ‘til we’re blue in the face to call that budget, we were not allowed to, we are here to present it to you today.”
The Republican budget was assembled before the most recent numbers that show the state is projected to lose more than a billion dollars in tax revenue over the next two years.
The state is already looking at a $3.6 billion deficit over the next two years. Lawmakers have until the end of the 2017 legislative session in June to deliver a budget.
