Legislators Meet, But Are No Closer To Budget Deal
It’s the second week of August and members of the General Assembly appear no closer to reaching a budget agreement than they did when the legislative session ended in June.
Democrats and Republicans met behind closed doors Tuesday afternoon to discuss revising their competing budget proposals in light of a labor-savings deal that passed the legislature last week.
Republicans were counting on additional concessions from state employee unions that appear to be off the table with a new agreement in place. In both the House and the Senate, Republicans uniformly voted against the deal, which locks in state employee benefits through 2027.
With $1.5 billion in labor savings achieved, there is still a $3.5 billion deficit over the next two years that must be settled.
Read more: http://www.courant.com/politics/hc-pol-budget-gridlock-continues-20170808-story.html