Looney, Duff Statement on Republican Plan to Cut Debt Payments

Today Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney (D-New Haven) and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) released the following statement in response to the House and Senate Republican press release calling on the state to cut debt payments by $750 million:

"The Republican political press release is a return to the fiscal irresponsibility of the past and a betrayal of future generations of our state. The Republicans slash $750 million in debt payments which will not only cost taxpayers this year but will saddle them with millions in payments each year for the next 25 years. The failure to keep pace with actuarially required pension payments was the hallmark of the 16 Rowland and Rell years. We must not fall back into that irresponsible pattern. Furthermore, Republicans have failed to propose an alternative budget to show the impact of their proposals. We cannot budget in a vacuum.

"The Republicans' short-sighted and foolish fiscal ideas undo the work of the bipartisan 2017 budget and would steer our state right back into the cycle of cuts and tax increases. Republicans would rather pit hard-working Americans against each other than blame a Russian warmongering tyrant or the oil corporations lining their own pockets. Now is not the time for political games. Connecticut will not give you a dollar today to take $100 from your grandchild tomorrow."