Lamont, State Democrats battling over length of budget
HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — There's a budget battle brewing at the state Capitol.
Gov. Ned Lamont and his fellow Democrats in the legislature both came out Wednesday with rivaling views of what the state's next budget should look like.
The legislative Democrats want to increase spending by more than what Gov. Lamont wants. And the legislative Democrats are now pushing the idea of passing a one-year state budget instead of the normal two-year state budget.
The reasons they want to do a one-year budget rather than a two-year budget are very technical. But the basic point is this: they want more flexibility when it comes to the state's system of spending controls, specifically the legal cap on state spending that is supposed to set a hard ceiling on the budget.
They believe if they have to do a two-year budget, the constraints of the state's system of spending controls, paired with any funding cuts from Washington D.C., would put them in a position of having to potentially pull back on spending on priorities like education. They're being very assertive in making that argument.
'The legislative branch is not backup singers,' State House Speaker Matt Ritter (D-1st) said. It is a co-equal branch of government and it's not going to just bend a knee because somebody says on a sheet of paper, 'Just make these cuts and we're gonna go home.' There are opinions in there. Passionate opinions. And we have the tough job of threading that needle, and the needle right now, I believe, is a one-year budget.'
Gov. Lamont does not seem friendly to the idea of a one-year budget.
'If we can find some common ground — meet in the middle,' Gov. Lamont said. We're not talking about cuts, we're talking about how much we increase. I think we can give the taxpayers of the state of Connecticut the confidence that we've got an honestly balanced two-year budget just like we've done for the last 40 years.'
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