Our state’s budget should reflect our state’s priorities, but Governor Lamont’s proposed budget won’t support the recovery Connecticut needs, members of the Recovery for All Coalition said at a press conference yesterday.
The Recovery for All Coalition, a group made up of community, faith, and labor organizations partnering with legislative champions, gave their first impressions of the governor’s budget hours after its release.
“Governor Lamont’s budget does not meet the urgency of this moment,” Connecticut AFL-CIO President Sal Luciano said. There are now more people out of work than there were during the Great Recession, and Luciano said the governor’s budget does not focus nearly enough on creating jobs, addressing food insecurity, providing access to health care, or ensuring affordable housing.
“This is an emergency that requires bold leadership,” Luciano continued. “A timid response will just make this crisis last even longer, and the working people in the state will suffer longer as a result.”
“We need a new approach and a new way of thinking,” said Waterbury Pastor Rodney Wade. “We need extraordinary measures to tackle extraordinary needs.”
He added, “Wall Street may be thriving, but on the streets of Waterbury there is a very different story to be told.”
Senator Saud Anwar, a medical doctor, pointed out that the pandemic has already killed more than 7,300 Connecticut residents, and more people die every day. “These are real people, not numbers,” he said.
Anwar continued, “This is not the time to maintain the status quo. The status quo is austerity. This budget is leaving a lot of the people we all care about behind.”
Connecticut Education Association President Jeff Leake said that the governor’s budget delays a planned phase in of increased education funding for schools in impoverished communities.
“Well-resourced schools have never been more important to Connecticut students than they are during the pandemic. Clearly, we want to be on a path that ensures communities that most need more funding receive it,” he said.
“Together, we will urge the governor to focus on reducing income inequality and ensuring that Connecticut’s economic recovery is truly shared by all,” said Luciano.