Deficit Patrol...Day 2

In the spirit of the CTGOP and EverydayRepublican's "Dodd Watch," The CT Young Republican is now on what we like to call "Deficit Patrol." You saw yesterday's post with the Democrats in the State Legislature shelving, and effectively denying, Gov. Rell's proposal to reclaim the $25 million in bottle deposits to shave the deficit. But wait, there's more.

At a time when the Connecticut budget deficit really needs an axe murderer, today the Legislative Dems have decided to use a butter knife. They started on the right track today, they almost had a good day cutting $71 million from the budget. But just when it looked like things were going to go well, it all came to a screeching halt.

The real irony is the confidence in the Democrats have in cutting necessary positions, like when they considered Former Congressman Rob Simmons' job as the state Business Advocate (fear not though, Rob lives to work another day, just rolled into the DECD, rather than an independent agency). Strangely, they don't have the same confidence in not adding essentially useless jobs.

House Republicans offered an amendment to combine six independent state agencies that represent women, children, the elderly, African-Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans. I know, it seems callous to think that each of these does not deserve their own agency, but its a bereaucracy, so surely there is some redundancy built in somewhere. (CTGOP Chairman Chris Healy said it best when referring to a $25000 Commission on Asian American Affairs to do, "little more than tell us there are Asian Americans living in Connecticut.")

Couple the $71 million with the $25 million we possibly could have gotten from the bottle deposits, and in 2 days, there is a third of the deficit taken care of. $157 million will be coming in from the federal government as a settlement for Medicaid funding, plus another $40 million in tax amnesty payments. The math adds up. $25 million would have gone a long way.

At any rate, it is an up hill battle ahead to cut a budget that should have never gotten out of control in the first place. But then again, what can you do facing the overwhelming majority we do now? Not to mention the even more daunting majority that will take office in the 2009 session. All that's left to say is Beware what you wish for.