Senator Boucher’s Response to Governor Malloy’s Transportation Press Conference

Hartford – Transportation Committee Co-Chair Senator Toni Boucher (R-26) responded to Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s seeking new revenue sources to remedy the state’s transportation funding shortfalls.

“In today’s press conference, Governor Malloy said the legislature has put the state in a pickle by shortchanging the special transportation fund and not addressing Connecticut’s crumbling infrastructure. The Governor fails to acknowledge his and his administration’s actions by pouring the brine into the growing cracks in the state’s roads and railways. They did this by regularly raiding the special transportation fund and putting Connecticut’s infrastructure needs on the back burner.

Now, with the special transportation fund running dry, the Governor announces that major repair and improvement projects throughout the state will cease until more funding is made available. His actions directly impede and endanger those on Connecticut’s roadways and railways in the hope of wearing travelers down. The plan is that residents will acquiesce to Democrats calls for fare increases, gas tax increases, and electronic tolls with the promise that only more money will make things better.

What Governor Malloy does not talk about is the Prioritize Progress transportation-funding plan developed by Republicans in 2015. Republicans recognized then the problems with the special transportation fund and proposed a way to fix it, but were ignored by the Governor and Democrat majority, who took money from the fund as recently as Fiscal Year 2017.

Governor Malloy and Democrats’ unyielding thirst for revenue will only further drive businesses and residents from our state while making those who stay behind poorer.”