February 16, 2011

  Don’t look for Sen. Richard Blumenthal to be on the frontlines of entitlement reform. Today, the Democrat from Connecticut announced that he was joining the “Defending Social Security Caucus,” a new group that formed earlier this year by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. “As it becomes increasingly clear that some in Congress propose cutting or […]

The motto of the Connecticut Council of Small Towns is, “We’re working to keep small towns strong.” To this end, COST analyzes policies being considered at the Capital with several questions in mind: Will they make Connecticut’s 139 smaller communities, those suburban and rural towns under 30,000 in population, better places in which to live […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy spared early, primary and secondary education from budget cuts, and beefed up spending on school choice, but he is proposing a $143.5 million reduction to public colleges and universities over the next two years. “Yes, this budget asks our colleges and universities to step up just as the rest of state […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy won nearly universal praise for honesty and courage Wednesday in proposing to restore the state’s fiscal health with a bracing prescription of steep tax increases, labor concessions, agency consolidations and cuts to higher education and social services. “Lot of guts. Lot of guts,” said House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., […]

Poor adults in Medicaid would get fewer dental cleanings and have to chip in for the cost of medical care under Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposed budget. Seniors receiving home care would have to pay more for the services, and a portion of the program aimed at keeping seniors out of nursing homes would be […]

WASHINGTON–Amid intense political pressure to slash federal spending, the House voted Wednesday to nix $450 million in funding for an alternate engine for the Joint Strike Fighter, handing a major victory to Connecticut-based Pratt & Whitney. By a vote of 233-to-198, the House adopted an amendment–backed by veteran Democrat Rep. John Larson and sophomore Republican […]

Dannel P. Malloy Gov. Dannel P. Malloy framed his budget proposal Wednesday as a blueprint for shared sacrifice that can return the state to economic vitality, even as he asks state employees for deep concessions and the public for higher taxes. Malloy outlined about $780 million in concessions he is seeking, far short of the […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s first budget relies on an undefined, $1 billion labor savings and $1.5 billion in new taxes to help balance more than $19.7 billion in spending next fiscal year while sparing municipal aid from any major reductions. The plan also relies on $750 million in cuts to social services, higher education and […]

The long-promised move to more open and transparent budget principles turned out to be part of a much larger fiscal reform agenda unveiled Wednesday by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. The new governor also challenged state legislators in his new budget Wednesday to end the long-standing system of approving state employee contracts by default, to trim […]

Whether Gov. Dannel P. Malloy “shredded” the state’s safety net in his first biennial budget — as he has repeatedly pledged not to do — may depend on the perspectives of state legislators, advocates and Connecticut’s neediest residents themselves. But the state’s wide array of health care and other social services provided the one of […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy not only spared Connecticut’s cities and towns from the budget axe, but set them up to gain $129 million in new annual revenue by 2013 through increased taxing powers and new shares of the state’s revenue streams. The governor, who served as Stamford’s mayor for 14 years through 2009, effectively called […]

Nearly one-third of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s solution to state government’s budget crisis hinges on a labor savings target more than five times the employee wage and health benefits concessions secured just two years ago. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget address Links to budget documents The $1 billion savings target Malloy proposed to help close […]

Republicans are rushing to capitalize on Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposed $1.5 billion tax increase in campaign mailings in some of the special-election races to fill six House and three Senate vacancies in the General Assembly. Malloy delivered his budget address Wednesday, which happens to also be the last day that campaigns can reliably send […]