Governor Rell: Gov. Rell: Budget Will Become Law Without Her Signature

Governor Rell: Gov. Rell: Budget Will Become Law Without Her Signature – and Without Pork-Barrel Spending

{Seal of the State of Connecticut}	STATE OF CONNECTICUT EXECUTIVE CHAMBERS HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT 06106
M. Jodi Rell Governor

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 1, 2009

Contact:
860-524-7313

Governor Rell: Budget Will Become Law Without

Her Signature – and Without Pork-Barrel Spending

Governor Will Not Sign Bill, But Will Line-Item Veto $8 Million

in Earmarks, Other Spending Added at Last-Minute

Listen to Gov. Rell

Governor M. Jodi Rell today announced that she will neither sign nor veto the state budget given final approval by legislative Democrats early Tuesday morning, allowing the bill to become law without her signature according to the state Constitution. However, Governor Rell said she will exercise her line-item veto power to remove new earmarks and new “pork-barrel” spending items added to the bill.

“Democrats have repeatedly called this budget a ‘compromise,’” Governor Rell said. “It is hardly a compromise. Last week I put a new budget proposal on the table – my fourth – in which I accepted tax increases I did not want in return for cuts in state spending. The Democrats just could not cut, once again showing they are unwilling – or simply unable – to make meaningful reductions. They refuse to accept the reality that families and businesses accepted months ago: We must live within our means.

“Instead, this budget calls for more borrowing and vague plans for future savings,” the Governor said. “Worse still, in the hours before this budget was brought to a vote the Democrats had the audacity to add more spending. It is as if they believe the people of Connecticut do not care, are not watching and will not notice.

“Because of this complete disregard for our taxpayers, I will be using my line-item veto to eliminate all of the new earmarks and pork-barrel spending. The total is some $8 million – not an overwhelming amount in the scheme of the two-year budget. But this spending is an insult – a slap in the face of our taxpayers.

“I will not veto the entire budget,” Governor Rell said. “However, I will not sign it into law, because I do not believe in this budget. I do not want, by my signature, to put a stamp of approval on their spending, their inability to make cuts or their levels of borrowing, revenues and taxes.

“But a veto will not bring significantly different results, I fear – and the people of Connecticut are starting to truly feel the effects of our stalemate. This budget crisis has lingered longer than any in state history. Struggling families, people who have lost their job or their home, people with disabilities, cities and towns, schools, state agencies and non-profits – all have been left wondering about the future. They need to know state resources are in place and available. Now they will know.

“Let me repeat: This budget is not the compromise I sought – but it is a fight that has saved our taxpayers billions of dollars,” Governor Rell said. “By digging in my heels, I have forced the Democrats to sharply lower their demand for new taxes. They went from $3.3 billion in new taxes in their April budget to $2.5 billion in the June budget, dropping to $1.8 billion in their July budget – and $900 million in the current proposal.

“This budget reduces the corporate surcharge that the Democrats first proposed at 30 percent to 10 percent over the next three years, and excludes nearly all small- and medium-sized businesses in the state. This budget makes significant changes and reductions in the inheritance tax and requires the state sales tax to drop. And it does cut some state spending. Most importantly: This budget crisis must be resolved. For the good of our state, this crisis is now resolved.”

Under the state Constitution, the bill automatically becomes law without the Governor’s signature five days after passage.

See the list of earmarks to be cut with Governor Rell's line-item veto authority.

September 1, 2009

The Honorable Susan Bysiewicz

Secretary of the State

20 Trinity Street

Hartford, CT 06106

Dear Secretary Bysiewicz:

Attached hereto is Emergency Certified Bill 6802, An Act Concerning Expenditures and Revenue for the Biennium Ending June 30, 2011. Pursuant to Section 16 of Article Fourth of the Constitution of the State of Connecticut, I am returning it without my signature, but I have exercised my right, pursuant to said Section 16, to disapprove the items attached hereto as Exhibit A. The items make appropriations of money embracing distinct items. I shall permit the remainder of Emergency Certified Bill 6802 to become law without my signature.

During this entire budget process, I have fought for a smaller and less costly state government. I have consistently maintained that reducing the size and cost of our bloated bureaucracy is the only long-term, sustainable approach to guiding Connecticut through this national economic downturn. I continue to believe that requiring government to live within its means is the best way to position Connecticut for a strong economic future. Living within one’s means is a concept that the families and businesses of Connecticut understand all too well – but it is a concept that has not been embraced by the framers of this budget bill.

Unfortunately, the bill presented to me not only fails to make significant spending cuts, it actually includes new programs and incredibly in these dire fiscal times, new pork-barrel spending for programs that may be well-intentioned but are certainly ill-timed. That kind of budgeting is a fiscal shell game that will lead Connecticut to new budget shortfalls in the future.

I negotiated with legislative leaders in earnest for six months, seeking a responsible budget that would be affordable to the families and businesses of Connecticut. Because the budget for the next two years will determine our economic fortunes for the next twenty years and beyond, I fought for significant cuts in spending that would help cut our state government to a size that matches our taxpayers’ ability to pay.

In an effort to bring resolution to our budget stalemate, last week I offered a compromise to the Democrat leaders. I accepted several provisions that I was loath to accept because Connecticut needs to have an approved budget in place. Uncertainty regarding the state budget is beginning to affect our cities and towns, our schools and critical programs and services that many people rely upon for everyday living. In return for my agreement to several of the Democrats’ tax proposals, I asked for $520 million in spending cuts. Unfortunately, they were able to make less than half that amount in actual spending reductions.

Emergency Certified Bill 6802 spends too much, borrows more than we should and leaves us with structural holes that we will struggle to fill two years from now. It represents a failure of political courage to make the difficult choices that would help put Connecticut on the road to economic recovery. Yet, the overarching fact of the matter is that Connecticut needs a budget. Despite the majority party’s unwillingness to significantly reduce spending, the budget impasse cannot continue indefinitely. Moreover, there is no indication that any amount of time would result in additional spending cuts.

I shall permit this bill to become law without my signature and I will exercise my authority to cut the most egregious of the new spending. In short, I will continue to make the difficult choices that others have been unable or unwilling to make.

Emergency Certified Bill 6802, An Act Concerning Expenditures and Revenue for the Biennium Ending June 30, 2011, is clearly a bill that makes appropriations of money embracing distinct items. Section 16 of Article Fourth of the Constitution of the State of Connecticut, therefore, gives me authority to disapprove of individual appropriations within this bill. I hereby exercise that authority by disapproving of the items enumerated in attached Exhibit A. This letter serves as my statement of the items disapproved, together with my reasons for such disapproval.

Very truly yours,

M. Jodi Rell

Governor

Content Last Modified on 9/2/2009 2:59:23 PM

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