Giegler Calls For Spending Cuts

From: New Fairfield Citizen-News, November 18, 2009

Stop Digging
Why It’s Time To Try A Different Kind Of Budget

Not even two months have passed since the new state budget was implemented, and yet the State of Connecticut already finds itself $624 million in the red.

To remedy this situation, the Governor has announced that she will call lawmakers back in special session to pass a “deficit mitigation” plan to close the gap we’ve found ourselves in. I sincerely hope that my friends in the Majority join me in supporting that effort, though they have been loath to do so in the past.

After all, this is a group that thought spending $1.3 to study the impact on children of having their parents incarcerated was a good idea- even in the face of an $8 billion deficit. Most Connecticut residents could draw the conclusion that growing up with a parent in jail is bad, and they could do it for free.

However, “deficit mitigation” is not enough for the long term health of Connecticut’s economy. One overarching conclusion can be drawn from the situation we’ve found ourselves in: that budgets which try to tax, spend, and borrow our way out of trouble are not working. It is time for that fact to be acknowledged by the leadership in Hartford and a new fiscal course charted that rejects the pleas of special interests for more and more spending, and instead makes real reductions to the size of government.

While it sounds like common sense, budget reductions such as these have never been made in Connecticut. However, just because these cuts have never been made is no excuse not to do so now. After all, years of tax-and-spend budgeting has left Connecticut last in job growth, unattractive to businesses and investors, and a state that is shedding its young people at an alarming rate. This can hardly be called a record of success.

When you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you should do is stop digging. It’s time that the Legislature heed this lesson, even if it’s a novel idea.
State Representative Janice R. Giegler (R-138th) represents Danbury and New Fairfield in the General Assembly.