HARTFORD – Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has a message for state lawmakers grappling with the next two-year budget: “Get used to it.”
Malloy, speaking this morning with a small group of Capitol reporters, said his two-year, $40 billion proposal, including $560 million in spending reductions, is being met with resistance by Republican and Democratic lawmakers.
But a constitutional spending cap essentially precludes higher spending and even additional revenue schemes. “We have a spending cap,” he said during a half-hour question-and-answer session in his Capitol office. “”There’s no room. Get used to it.”
Six weeks into the 13-week budget-setting session of the General Assembly, Malloy said legislative leaders have had time to fully explore his budget plan. “The reality is this is the framework,” Malloy said. That includes reductions in programming for adult healthcare in the Husky program, as well as the developmental disabled.
In recent weeks lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have criticized some of Malloy’s proposed cuts. But he noted that no lawmakers have offered alternatives.
Stressing that the point of the meeting with reporters was to send a message to the Legislature, Malloy said that in the days after his November re-election leading up to his February budget address, he lived with many drafts of a new biennial budget, including one that cut spending by $1.2 billion.
He said that most state spending is either contractual or otherwise mandatory. He said it’s crucial to continue levels of state aid to municipalities and local schools.
“The reality is they have to get to the reality,” he said.
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