The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Malloy skeptical as budget deal reached
Devil is in the details, governor warns
HARTFORD — Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said he appreciates that Republican and Senate leaders finally agreed to a tentative budget deal Wednesday, but warned he will review the details with skepticism.
Two weeks of continuous secret talks among Republican and Democratic leaders finally yielded a tentative deal that could end the nation’s longest-running fiscal stalemate.
But first it must survive the scrutiny of House and Senate members, as well as Malloy, who earlier this month vetoed a two-year, $41 billion budget.
The legislative leaders admitted they still did not have final fiscal projections on the package, and declined to reveal more than broad brushstrokes, pending meetings over the next few days with their rankand-file caucuses.
Malloy said he still is on the lookout for budget gimmicks, including raids from agency budgets and socalled one-time revenue sources that have contributed to the state’s long-term budgetary problems.
“I’m glad the leaders believe they have made progress toward a deal that I can support,” Malloy told reporters minutes after the 3 p.m. announcement by lawmakers. “I’ll reserve judgment on those details and others until I see a full product and would advise you all to do the same.”
The agreement culminated daily negotiations leaders held after breaking away from discussions with Malloy earlier in the month, said Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin.
Aresimowicz said the final product will include about 50 percent of a previous Democratic budget, 20 percent from the vetoed Republican budget and 30 percent from compromises between the parties.
The compromise package would not shift any costs of teacher pensions to the towns and cities that Malloy pushed throughout the year.
It immediately drew approval from the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.
“We’re confident that we can come to a budget document to be voted on in the near future,” Aresimowicz said, after the final 41⁄2-hour session in his office, during which lawmakers reviewed state aid formulas, school support
and revenue sources.
He said local aid totals have still not been finalized.
“The hard work has been done, in my opinion,” Aresimowicz said, stressing he would like huge bipartisan margins when the bill comes to the House and Senate, possibly next week.
Republican Senate Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, said the GOP’s previously proposed pension changes have been dropped from the tentative package. Fasano said a compromise was reached on a tougher cap on annual spending increases, a new cap on annual bond sales and municipal mandate relief.
“This story is about the leadership that got in a room, worked tirelessly day after day, ad nauseam, over everything, and as we said before, talked about issues, which allowed us to get to the heart of the issues,” Fasano said.
“Clearly, we have to caucus these issues first,” House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, told reporters asking for details. “Clearly, it’s not fair to them to hear about a tentative agreement from all of you.”
Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, said the leaders will be “advocating” the compromise with hope that the four caucuses will follow. “Their votes are going to be the factor that decides everything,” he said.
On Friday, Looney and Aresimowicz will meet with Malloy. House Democrats and Republicans will then meet in caucus on the issue Thursday.
The legislation will be drafted over the weekend.
Earlier in the afternoon, about 30 advocates for restoring Medicaid funding held a news conference, confronted Malloy in the cafeteria of the Capitol complex, then demonstrated outside Aresimowicz’s office, stressing the need to put higher taxes on the state’s wealhtiest.
Looney, Aresimowicz and House Majority Leader Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, stepped outside the negotiating room and met with them briefly.
“The state has some dire fiscal issues that we’re trying to deal with in the best possible way,” Aresimowicz later said of the meeting. “It’s very difficult to balance this budget.”