Trumbull State Reps Blast Budget

Three Republican Trumbull state representatives blasted the state budget that was passed by the house and senate yesterday.

There will be $1.6 billion in new taxes from the budget and spending increases by $713 million.

Several businesses, including General Electric announced they are reconsidering plans to stay in the state.

“These aren’t veiled threats,” said Rep. Rutigliano. “These are some of the state’s largest employers. Sikorsky just announced layoffs. Our state is hurting, and this budget doesn’t address the problem. It doesn’t address State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC) money. It doesn’t address the recent raise that the Governor gave to his staff. It goes against the Governor’s campaign promise to not raise taxes. It makes us uncompetitive with our neighbors,” said Rep. David Rutigliano.

He added that residents and businesses can only take so much.

“This plan is disastrous for Connecticut,” said Rep. Laura Devlin. “We are changing the rules of the game on businesses in our state. Businesses can’t do any long-term financial planning, whether that means hire more employees, investing in equipment or expanding their facility if the state continues annual way of shaping state business policy.”

McGorty likewise called the budget a bad deal.

“This budget continues Connecticut further and deeper down the destructive path it has been on,” said Rep. McGorty. “It doesn’t protect the middle class – it’s an assault on them. We demonstrated earlier in the session with our alternative budget proposal that there are other ways to balance the state’s budget, while bringing spending under control and not raising taxes. Today the Democrats chose once again to pass the burden of bloated government to the working families of the state.”