Connecticut legislative leaders are expected to continue budget negotiations in Hartford on Monday. This comes after they worked through the weekend in an effort to try to reach an agreement that Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy would be willing to sign.
Connecticut’s Democratic and Republican legislative leaders released a rare bipartisan statement over the weekend saying that they had positive meetings with very serious negotiations and productive discussions. At issue is how to close a $3.5 billion projected deficit in the state’s two-year budget. Connecticut remains the only state in the nation without a budget.
Governor Malloy, who vetoed a Republican-backed budget that passed the legislature, says the lack of a budget is costing the state jobs.
“We have discussion that are on hold with companies that want to enlarge their footprint or move to our state, who say, ‘Hey listen, when you get a budget we’ll have further discussions.’ Meanwhile, at least in one case, we are going to talk with five other states. So we are going to lose thousands of jobs.”
With no budget, about $900 million in cuts to state funding for cities and towns are scheduled to take effect this month under an executive order by the governor. But Malloy says most of those cuts might be avoided if a budget agreement is reached by Friday. Considering the month-long budget impasse, that’s a tall order.
