Fasano Response to Malloy Statement on Republican Budget

HARTFORD – Senate Republican President Pro Tempore Len Fasano (R-North Haven) released the following statement regarding comments made by Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s office on the revised budget proposal announced today by the Senate and House Republican caucuses.

“Considering how well Governor Malloy has run our state the fact that he doesn’t like our budget is perhaps a sign we are on the right track. Governor Malloy is quick to criticize without even understanding what our budget does. This budget fully funds the Special Transportation Fund and actually results in surpluses in this fund in each of the next five years as calculated by the nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis. In addition, this budget reduces previously proposed cuts to UConn in an effort to garner bipartisan support. It also reduces future deficits and is under the state spending cap, at the same time it restores $130 million to the Medicare Savings Program – something Governor Malloy’s proposals completely failed to restore any funding for.

“The truth is Governor Malloy has always wanted to see the legislature’s bipartisan budget fail and has done everything in his power to try to make that happen, ignoring savings recommendations made by the legislature and failing to implement the budget as lawmakers intended. As a result we are now facing a deficit in the current year so large we are left with no choice. The governor should be honest and acknowledge that his deficit mitigation proposals, even if you totaled them all up together, would not have resolved today’s deficit. He has also failed to put forward any workable plan that could pass the legislature. What Republicans put forward today is an effort to reconcile our differences with Democrats and offer a budget that we hope can garner bipartisan support, resolve the state’s current shortfalls, and put us on a path to stability in the future. It’s unfortunate that Governor Malloy is more concerned with attacking Republicans than fixing the mess he created.”