Politics Prevents Budget Vote

State Representative Craig Fishbein (R-90) today expressed his continued frustration and disappointment that the legislature was called into special session yet has not introduced, debated or voted on a state budget.

During the opening minutes of today’s special session, House Republicans proposed an amendment to the session rules to allow a vote of 1/3 of the legislature – 51 votes out of 151 total House members – to be able to call a budget for a consideration and debate. By rule, the majority party controls which bills get called on the House floor for debate, and the proposed rule change would only allow legislation be called for consideration with members free to debate and vote on the measure as usual. That amendment was defeated along strict party lines by a vote of 77-71.

Hours later, House Republicans again called a separate amendment in order to introduce, debate and vote on the budget proposal. That amendment was also defeated along party lines by a vote of 75-71.

“Instead of allowing debate and an up or down vote on the merits of a fully vetted, no-tax-increase budget package proposed by House Republicans, majority party Democrats chose, once again, to stifle debate and summarily rejected the only plan offered to date,” Rep. Fishbein said. “The legislature is supposed to work for all of Connecticut and not just the municipalities served by Democrats.”

When the legislature failed to adopt a state budget before the end of the regular legislative session on June 7, temporary control over spending decisions was handed to Governor Malloy. Until the legislature passes a budget and it is approved by both chambers and signed by the governor, budget decisions are handled through executive order.

“Since the start of the regular session in January every single member of the legislature has known the deficit for the next two years was $5.1 billion, yet here we are at the end of July and we’re still without a budget,” Rep. Fishbein said. “House Republicans offered three fully vetted budgets and one mini-budget for consideration but party politics has prevented those from being considered.”

Since May, Republican lawmakers have asked repeatedly for a budget vote only to be rebuffed by the majority party.  Details of the House Republican budget are at: https://www.cthousegop.com/budget

“My colleagues and I will continue to fight for a budget vote and we remain committed to working on long-term structural solutions to move our state forward.”