House Approves Fifth Deficit-Cutting Plan Friday Afternoon
http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2009/05/house-debating-fifth-deficitcu.html
By Christopher Keating
on May 22, 2009 3:18 PM
For the fifth time, the House of Representatives voted Friday to reduce the state’s gigantic budget deficit for the current fiscal year - but the projected deficit would still be $820 million even after the cuts.
After a debate that lasted about three hours, the House voted largely along party lines, 96 to 34, with 21 legislators absent and not voting.
The latest package represents about $154 million in savings, including about $25 million in spending cuts and a series of transfers of money within the state budget. The general fund will receive $110 million in so-called “couch cushion money,” which are obscure funds in the highly complicated budget that have not yet been spent. That unspent money will be transferred from more than 90 different line-items into the cash-strapped general fund in order to close the deficit.
The “couch cushion” money has been hotly disputed for months as Democrats vowed to find at least $220 million and Rell’s budget team countered that the number was inflated because much of the money had already been earmarked for other programs.
But House Majority Leader Denise Merrill, a Storrs Democrat, said the two sides finally agreed on certain funds that could be transferred in order to close the deficit.
“We’re going to do what we can on what we can agree on,” Merrill said. “It certainly helps.”
Rep. Steven Mikutel, a veteran Democrat, said many hours were spent on a package that cuts the deficit by a relatively small amount.
“I’m disappointed that this Herculean effort has yielded so little,” Mikutel said on the House floor. “I expected a little bit more.”
The House debate came Friday afternoon - on the same day that the Senate had voted, 23 to 12, on party lines to approve the package at about 5 a.m. Friday following an all-night debate on abolishing the death penalty. Rell said Friday that she would veto the death penalty-abolition bill.
With only 38 days left in the fiscal year that ends June 30, lawmakers said that lawmakers might not vote again to cut the deficit for the current year.
“I assume this will be the last deficit-mitigation plan,” said Rep. John Geragosian, a New Britain Democrat who co-chairs the budget-writing committee.
Some lawmakers believe that the state will end up borrowing money for operating expenses - through selling bonds - in order to close the deficit for the current fiscal year. All sides agree that tactic is a bad idea fiscally, but the state was forced to borrow money during the last two fiscal crises in 1991 and 2003.
“Please don’t bond it,” said Rep. T.R. Rowe, a Trumbull Republican.
On largely party lines, the Democratic majority rejected a Republican amendment to transfer another $3.7 million to the general fund, including about $900,000 in so-called “slush funds” that have not been spent yet by the Senate Democratic caucus.
“I would assume it’s hard to spend 900,000 bucks in 38 days,” said House GOP leader Larry Cafero of Norwalk. “I think it is our responsibility to use those funds to mitigate the deficit. … No brainer. Easy pickins. No programs eliminated. Nobody loses their job.”
The amendment was rejected, 99 to 35, with 17 legislators absent and not voting.
The $3.7 million includes $2 million that was allocated to Rell’s office, but a spokesman said that Rell announced more than six months ago that she was returning that money.
Derek Slap, a spokesman for the Senate Democrats, said, “The balance already goes back to the general fund, and House Republicans know that. They also know that the Senate Democrats are returning at least 10 percent of their own caucus budget back to the taxpayers. We encourage the House Republicans to follow suit.”
Rep. Shawn Johnston, a Thompson Democrat, and Mikutel both voted with the Republicans on the amendment as they broke with their fellow caucus members.
“It’s the federal equivalent of earmarks. It’s the federal equivalent of pure pork,” said Johnston, who is known by some at the Capitol as the 38th member of the Republican caucus. “Mr. Speaker, this is not an unreasonable amendment.”
An annoyed Mikutel got up on the House floor later and said he did not appreciate being questioned by high-level Democrats about his vote. He said that Democrats should be able to vote on any bill “and not worry about being retaliated or threatened. I’ve been here 17 years, and no one has threatened me. I’ll vote the way I want to vote - for my constituents.”
