HARTFORD – Governor Ned Lamont addressed a joint session of the Connecticut General Assembly today to deliver his budget address.
Statement from David McGuire, Executive Director of ACLU of Connecticut:
“A budget is a moral document, and the state of Connecticut doesn’t live in a vacuum. The federal government has vowed to punish states that protect reproductive rights, immigrants, and LGBTQ+ communities by cutting federal funds to necessary programs and imposing harsh funding conditions based on exclusion and regressive policy. Connecticut must have budget flexibility to step in when these protections are threatened. Governor Lamont says he will alter the fiscal rules, but modification is not enough.
Civil rights and liberties are the freedoms that guarantee a people their ability to flourish and prosper. A budget that doesn’t defend our civil rights and liberties is a broken budget. The state’s $4.1 billion rainy-day fund was meant for times of crises —and a federal government openly attacking civil rights is a crisis. Funding our social safety net, beyond basic funding for education, is necessary and urgent in this moment.
We can't afford to miss the opportunity to protect the people of Connecticut. This is the rainy day."
Statement from Chelsea-Infinity Gonzalez, Public Policy and Advocacy Director of ACLU of Connecticut:
“Governor Lamont talks about affordability and opportunity, and boasts about his office of equity and inclusion. But a budget that ignores civil rights and liberties is a budget that fails the people it claims to serve. Lawmakers – whose salaries you pay with your tax dollars – cannot afford to miss the moment on civil rights and liberties. We are in the Capitol every day, fighting for reproductive justice, racial justice, affordable and equitable housing for people with experience in the criminal legal system, and the state’s immigrants, who make up 20% of the workforce that keeps Connecticut prosperous.
Balanced budgets matter, but so do balanced people and communities. Stop ignoring the systemic injustices and start funding opportunity for real people. The fiscal guardrails are more malleable than the governor says they are. Your lawmakers made these laws. They have the power to change them. We will continue working with the people to amplify their voices, and with lawmakers to remind them of their agency and culpability if they miss this opportunity. If they fail to act, it won't be because they couldn't. It will be because they chose not to.”