Republicans were highly critical of the governor's decision to cut $65 million from Medicaid reimbursement.
Governor Dannel Malloy is calling the leadership of both parties in the General Assembly to meet him for talks on the state's budget crisis.
Malloy implemented $103 million in emergency rescissions earlier this month, but he said on Monday that fresh projections from the Office of Policy and Management show those will not be sufficient to meet budget shortfalls.
The OPM forecasts, which Malloy said have been sent to state Comptroller Kevin Lembo, identify an approximately $120 million revenue shortfall, which amounts to roughly half of one percent of the overall budget.
Malloy's call comes just a few days after he publicly turned down requests from Republican leadership in the state to call a special session to reconsider the budget.
Republicans were highly critical of the governor's decision to cut $65 million from Medicaid reimbursement, something that many hospitals have said will be a critical blow to their services.
Malloy issued his request for fresh talks at a press conference Monday morning. "I made some tough decisions, I anguished over those decisions, and I understand that people disagree with those decisions," he said. "But I don't think I've gotten a serious response from anybody, Republican or Democrat, with respect to what they would do."
Senator Martin Looney, the Senate Majority Leader, issued a statement, below:
Democrats in the General Assembly were preparing to offer a $100 million plan of broad cuts that would have restored funding for our community hospitals and programs in the Department of Disability Services and Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services rather than targeting programs that many Connecticut families rely on every day. In light of this latest projection, we are now facing a problem more than twice that size. I commend the Governor for listening to the concerns of legislative leaders.
Republicans responded to the governor's call, saying they believe the budget has serious structural issues, and may actually be in deficit by as much as $400 million. Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano and House Minority Leader Themis Klarides issued a joint statement, below:
Connecticut has a long way to go to fix the financial mess Democrats single handedly created in our state. As Republicans have constantly shown over the past year, we stand ready and willing to work collaboratively with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to do what is best for the people of Connecticut. But lawmakers should not be forced to negotiate in the margins of a budget that is entirely void of sound fiscal policies.
The reason why we are facing shortfalls today is because this budget was broken from the start. It is not Wall Street that is causing our financial problems, it’s the fact that the state budget was built on false assumptions and was in deficit as soon as it was enacted. That’s why we have to take on a holistic approach in a special session to completely rethink the budget in both the short and long term.
Malloy's office said that successful talks with the leadership could potentially lead to a special session of the entire legislature to approve a new budget package.
