Multiple sources in the Connecticut House of Representatives told NBC Connecticut on Wednesday that early budget plans included cobbling a budget plan together by Wednesday night to have ready for members to vote on today.
It's unclear what the budget would look like, or whether it would fully close a $932 million budget shortfall projected for the 2017 fiscal year.
When reached just before entering the House chamber, Speaker of the House Brendan Sharkey said, “(We're) discussing the package that we’ve put together as Democrats with our members and we expect to have some information out for you all after we’ve shared that with our members.”
It's been made clear by Sharkey and other Democratic leaders that the governor's budget, which slashed spending across the board but in balance, was not acceptable to rank-and-file Democrats in the House.
Sharkey said priorities, like reinstating education funds to some towns, restoring funds for hospitals, and keeping cities and towns whole, are elements they want to include in their own spending proposal.
“We’ve done what we said we were going to do, which is to put together a package that reflects the budget, reflects the realities that we are faced with and establishes what we as Democrats believe in in contrast to the governor and the Republican package.”
Gov. Dannel Malloy has said he will not accept, and therefore veto, any budget that raises taxes, borrows money even from the state's rainy day savings fund, or didn't go through any kind of negotiation with his administration.
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Sen. Len Fasano, the top Senate Republican, said he expects a budget as the result of a backroom deal, because that's been the norm in the General Assembly recently.
“They’re going to run it tomorrow in the House. I haven’t seen one word of it. You haven’t seen one word of it. I would suggest their members haven’t seen one word of it," Fasano said.
Republicans released their budget proposal on Monday which was in balance, and Sharkey said it included ideas he liked.
