Tomorrow is the deadline for Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell to sign or veto two pieces of high profile healthcare legislation – SustiNet and the Healthcare Partnership.
Proponents, who have scheduled a rally for late this afternoon at the capitol, argue the bills are bold proposals which will put Connecticut at the forefront of national healthcare reform.
Critics, including Rell’s budget office, argue the proposals are too costly and too risky when lawmakers are wrestling with two-year deficits in the billions-of-dollars.
Doug Whiting, spokesman for House Speaker Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden, an architect of the Healthcare Partnership, just told me “I think everyone’s expecting a veto on both but we hold out hope until.”
Whiting said Donovan and his staff are preparing responses “given any one of three scenarios – she vetos them both, passes them both, or takes one and rejects the other.”
Stamford Democratic Mayor Dannel Malloy, who is pursuing his party’s nomination to oppose Rell or whomever the Republicans nominate for Governor in 2010, issued a statement today in anticipation she will kill both SustiNet and the Healthcare Partnership.
“It’s time for the Governor to come clean and tell the people of Connecticut who’s advising her on health care – and if it’s her staff, then who’s advising them? God knows it’s not Connecticut’s working families,” Malloy said.
