Connecticut
CT leaders say they'll counter swiftly if Trump cuts more federal aid
Gov. Ned Lamont and the General Assembly’s highest-ranking leaders drew a political line in the sand late Friday.
If President Donald Trump continues to withhold huge blocks of federal aid for health care, education or other core programs, Connecticut’s done waiting to see if Congress or the courts will reverse the damage, leaders here wrote in a joint statement.
Connecticut’s piggy banks are large, and officials won’t hesitate to crack them immediately if vital programs are damaged, they indicated.
“Sound fiscal practices have positioned us better than most states in the nation,” Lamont wrote late Friday afternoon in a joint statement with House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, and Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven. “If this pattern of devastating cuts continues, we will be prepared to exercise emergency powers. Although we hope that Washington reverses course, we must plan for the inevitable or unpredictable.”
Officials here also had expected to see deep cuts in aid from Washington, but not until late summer or fall with the congressional adoption of the next federal budget. Since taking office in January, though, Trump has used executive orders on several occasions to suspend grants, reclaim unspent dollars from states, or attach controversial new conditions to federal assistance.
The comments came hours after state Senate Democrats completed a closed-door caucus during which members vented frustrations about Trump’s latest unilateral move, the cancellation of $12 billion in public health grants to states this week, including $155 million for infectious disease management, genetic screening of newborns and substance abuse prevention in Connecticut.
“What no one could anticipate was how severe these cuts would be and how quickly they would occur to vital programs, sometimes without warning,” Lamont and legislative leaders wrote, adding decisions on when to restore funding would be made in the coming weeks on a case-by-case basis.
Their statement didn’t say, though, whether the fiscally moderate-to-conservative governor and his fellow Democrats in legislative leadership see eye-to-eye on which piggy banks are OK to shatter, and which can’t be touched.
Connecticut holds a record-setting $4.1 billion budget reserve, commonly known as its rainy day fund, an amount equal to 18% of annual operating costs.
But an aggressive series of budget caps, labeled “fiscal guardrails” by Lamont and other supporters, have generated roughly triple that $4.1 billion mark since their enactment in 2017. And what wasn’t deposited into the reserve, another $8.5 billion, was used to whittle down the state’s massive pension debt.
One “guardrail” alone, a provision that restricts lawmakers’ ability to spend certain income and business tax receipts, has forced them to save an average of $1.4 billion annually since 2017. Analysts say it will capture another $1.4 billion before this fiscal year ends on June 30, and closer to $1.3 billion in each of the next three years.
Though the governor and legislative leaders all have cited the rainy day fund as one coffer Connecticut may need to tap to mitigate impending cuts in federal aid, scaling back the budget caps that helped fill this reserve is another matter.
Lamont has been reluctant to tamper with this system, though he did express a willingness in February to scale back this savings mandate modestly by about $300 million per year.
Ritter and Looney, though, have been more direct about the need to reform this “guardrails” system, save less, and pour more dollars into core programs like health care, education and social services.
And the House speaker said Friday he believes these saved income and business tax receipts should be the first line of defense against Trump cuts.
It’s been 14 years since Connecticut has failed to make the full contributions recommended by pension analysts for its retirement benefits for state employees and municipal teachers, and Ritter noted the full $3.2 billion owed this fiscal year already has been budgeted.
And any “guardrails” savings Connecticut doesn’t need to reverse cuts in federal funding still could be sent into the pensions as well, Ritter added.
But cracking this piggy bank first would leave the larger, $4.1 billion rainy day fund available for later this summer or fall, when potentially more damage could occur.
With Congress aiming to find more than $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid — a cooperative health care program that sends $6.1 billion to Connecticut this year alone — officials here fear revenues that support nursing homes, federally qualified health clinics, hospitals and insurance programs for poor adults and children, could be in grave jeopardy.
And with recent tariffs ordered by the president increasing many economists’ fears of a looming recession, Connecticut may need its rainy day fund later this year or next to mitigate the big drops in tax receipts that often accompany a sharp national economic downturn, legislative leaders say.
Looney echoed Ritter’s comments, calling the president’s latest health care funding cuts “irresponsible, reckless and possibly disastrous” and showing Connecticut must have all resources ready to offset damage to its most vital programs.
“We can’t draw a line anywhere,” Looney added.
The Lamont administration opted not to elaborate on Friday’s statement after its release.
But the governor has warned on several occasions that Connecticut must understand it ultimately can’t offset all losses in federal funding if the cuts go as deep as some fear they will.
Connecticut will receive more than $10 billion in federal funding this fiscal year, a total that equals roughly 40% of the entire state budget.
“No state can restore every cut that comes from Washington,” the joint statement from Connecticut leaders adds.
Setting the record straight on what undocumented immigrants do – and don’t – contribute to the communities they live in.
They have often been accused of draining resources.
Many undocumented people have been paying taxes – like a landscaping business owner we spoke with.
For some, the question is how much undocumented people pay in taxes compared to how much is spent to provide them services.
There’s a lot of things we won’t tell you about this undocumented man; name, age, where he lives…
But he’s been here for 20 years and works as a landscaper to support his wife and two American born kids.
“I came here for most of the reasons that other people come, to seek a better life,” he said.
We asked him what he thinks when he hears people say undocumented immigrants “don’t” pay taxes.
“Since I came here, since I got my first job, I always paid taxes. State tax, federal tax, have a few vehicles, pay tax,” he said.
Elizabeth Ricci, an immigration attorney, tells us yes , it’s a no brainer, you can’t say undocumented people don’t pay taxes in the U.S.
“It’s intellectually dishonest. So everyone’s paying taxes, the question is to what level,” Ricci said.
State Senator Rob Sampson (R-Wolcott) supports immigration reform and believes undocumented people cost Connecticut more than it gets in tax revenue.
“The amount of taxes paid by illegal immigrants is about half of what a lawful resident would pay. They’re not able to work lawfully. They’ve got to work under the table,” Sampson said.
A study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) – which some have described as left leaning – said based on estimates in 2022, undocumented immigrants paid approximately $406 million of state and local taxes in Connecticut. There’s no estimate on what they cost the state.
“Our research doesn’t really focus on the net effects, but we know that undocumented immigrants are working and paying taxes,” Marco Guzman with ITEP said.
Another study by the Federation for Immigration Reform (FAIR) – described by some as a right-leaning – looked at estimates of both how much undocumented people paid in to the system in Connecticut and how much programs for them, and their children cost. It concluded they cost Connecticut $1.3 billion in 2023.
“They have human needs, and if they can’t afford to pay for it, then somebody else is, and that is the taxpayers of Connecticut,” Ira Mehlman from FAIR said.
The undocumented man we spoke with said whatever numbers you want to quote, he believes by starting his own landscaping business to support his family, and employ others, he’s a net positive to our state.
“I’m not here to steal from the state or steal from other people, I’m just here for a better future,” he said.
The State of Connecticut’s Office of Policy and Management has hard data indicating in fiscal 2024 and 2025 combined, our state spent $80 million on Medicaid for undocumented children up to age 15 and pregnant, or postpartum mothers.
It is worth noting when undocumented people do pay taxes, they often don’t receive the services they pay for, namely, social security.
HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Shortly before 10 p.m. on Wednesday, the Connecticut House of Representatives signed off on a plan to set aside a $500 million surplus into the state’s “rainy day fund” as a temporary stopgap against cuts from Washington.
The $500 million will sit in the state’s budget reserves and be available for use at the direction of Governor Ned Lamont — who must get sign-off from the legislature’s leadership — until the legislature reconvenes for its regular session next February.
When lawmakers were crafting the legislation, they envisioned the funds being used to fill in the gaps created by the federal government shutdown, as well as cutbacks included in President Donald Trump’s signature “Big Beautiful Bill.”
Even with a deal in place to end the shutdown, the legislature’s majority Democrats held to their course and pushed for the deposit into the budget reserves. Funding for programs like SNAP food assistance, Democrats reasoned, should be guaranteed by the state in the face of uncertainty at the federal level.
“To bank on Washington not falling back into chaos or dysfunction is probably not a bet we’re willing to make when we’re talking about pretty important programs,” State Rep. Matt Ritter, the Democratic House Speaker, said.
Ritter’s Democratic caucus voted uniformly in favor of the $500 million measure and were joined by a majority of the House’s Republicans. State Rep. Vincent Candelora, the House GOP leader, helped craft the funding bill and voted in favor of it’s passage. Most of Candelora’s top lieutenants and key committee leaders also voted in favor. 21 members, mostly members of the GOP caucus’s more conservative wing, broke ranks and opposed the bill.
Candelora said that, with the shutdown over and the need to backfill programs like SNAP and the LIHEAP heating assistance program now negated, he is hopeful the money will not be spent — though some Democrats have floated using the funds to counteract cuts to Affordable Care Act subsidies that are currently set to take effect in the new year.
“I imagine most of that money will be intact and it will return to the rainy day fund,” Candelora said.
Now that it has won approval in the House, the bill heads to the State Senate, which is scheduled to convene on Thursday.
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