Connecticut Governor Talks State Funding

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I am here with Governor Ned Lamont of the Great State of Connecticut in this October Is that what Amrie called it in Connecticut in the Delmar Harbor? And Governor, thank you so much for being with us. I want to start with something that's an increasingly hot topic. We're here at a leader of businesses, with the leaders of

Well, the folks here at the Greenwich Economic Forum are really important to the state and the fintech sector, the financial services sector a big piece of our economy. We're part of the New York City financial ecosystem. I think what they like here is a little bit of certainty, instability. They sort of know the state's going to go our taxes a little bit less, and it's not a bad lifestyle.

Are you concerned about what would happen if, say there is a change over in the leadership in New York City, Let's say mayoral candidate Zoron Mumdanie does win and implement some of the policies that he puts out there. Are you concerned about the ramifications for a place like Creditch truly relies on the ecosystem of the Tri state region a little bit.

New York City is the financial capital of the world, and we're a big piece of it. Here as evidence that the Economic Forum and I want to make sure that the next mayor understands how important New York City is to that system and that's important to Connecticut.

How concerned are you about who the leader is in the Democratic Party right now? Do you have a sense of where the leadership really is coming from?

Governors? Okay, I'm a little loaded for bear on that. I like governors. Governors have to get stuff done. Devoters have to balance a budget, they have to do it on time. Governors can't shut down a government. Governors are sort of the opposite of what you see going on in Washington. I think on both sides aile. But in our case, the Democrats have seized real leadership coming from the governors. But don't ask me to ask names.

Well, but I'm wondering, though, how does a governor take that leadership when things are shut down in Washington, DC, and it seems like there's a real fissure right now in the party and tactics in approach in platform.

I can tell you the governors are incredibly frustrated. Democrats are louder about it than Republicans. You know, we balance our budget, we do it based upon some assumptions in terms of what our relationship is with the federal government. If they pull the rug out from under you every week, seems to be happening right now, it makes it very difficult for that certainty of stability that the people in this room, like.

How much have you seen actual ramifications from the government shut down in the form of funding that isn't coming through.

It's not my first rodeo with these Trump shutdowns. So we went through all of our commissioners. We saw what at most at risk? Where do you have reserves with which is women, infant and children probably only had a week it's worth of reserve there. So we'd figured out how we backstop that snap, which is you know, food benefits. That's the end of this month. So we're watching very

Well, how long do you have reserves to cover things? In other words, when does the funding run out? Should this shutdown continue for a long period of time, end.

Of this month? You know, snap benefits is probably seventy five million dollars a month. I cannot make up that shortfall. So if the federal government walks away, that's tough. If we had assurance the federal government's going to backstop, if we had to help it out for a couple months and we'll get paid back, that's something else. We have none of that assurance.

I guess I want to go back to the idea of leadership right now because we are beginning the midterm election cycle, and I wonder, as a Democrat in your second term as governor, how much do you feel allegiance to the Democratic Party versus something else MorphOS that's coming that doesn't necessarily have a label.

Well, as governor, you feel strong allegiance to your state. I'm a homer for Connecticut. I'm Team Connecticut, and you know, Republican or Democrat. I try and get stuff done. Personally speaking, is I look at a lot of the civil War down to Washington, d C. And I look at La and I look at Chicago. You know, I do think it's important that the democratic governors stand and stand and speak with one voice, that you know, what we need from the federal government in terms of a reliable partner.

How much are you concerned about some of the images that we're seeing with the National Guard going into places like Chicago and San Francisco and Portland and really raising a question about whether it's going to be the States versus the federal government.

Right Dally it will be speaking again. Remember a year or two ago he was talking about Civil War. Where you go, oh, ray, come on, it's a little bit more unnerving if you see those images right now. I talk to a General Yvon, the head of the Connecticut Guard. Very careful, I said, any inquiries from the federal government, I don't know. We just cent our guard to Djibouti, not to Chicago. I feel pretty good about that going forward.

What is your plan to try to keep businesses here and attract them to the Northeast given the exodus that has gone to Florida to other places have lower taxes.

We are speeding up our rail system from say Greenwich to Grand Central. That'll be ten to fifteen minutes faster. Working really hard to make sure you know you can get the workforce you need. And again, we haven't raised taxes in seven years. We've balanced the budget. I think that type of stability is pretty helpful.

Do you think that taxes need to come down? Do you think that that's then instrumental part of trying to keep attracting businesses and compete with other states.

Well, I'm a governor, so I can't over promise. Everybody runninggainst me is always saying they're going to eliminate the income tax in the state of Connecticut. I think what's more important to the folks I talk to is what's the stake going to look like one year and five years from now? Do I want to be because I'm making a five year bet. We haven't raised taxes at all. I've cut them for middle class folks. I think that's a good balance going forward.

What is your number one hope for the state? What is your number one sort of policy platform that you're hoping to get forward over the next one to five years.

I need housing, you know, for the first time in a long time, a lot of young people are moving out here. Like the lifestyle. We're pretty good as a suburban lifestyle. Rebuilding our cities, you know, these are our cities. We're fifty percent bigger fifty years ago. Now they're growing again where young people want to be. As I talk to the businesses to say, is this a place where young people, young employees want to be, I'm trying to say, yes.

How much are you participating in the reindustrialization of the United States and that's been a big platform that we've seen overall. Is that something that you're trying to attract to the state as well.

Yeah, I'd like to think of us as a silicon valley of manufacturing. We do a lot of complicated stuff like submarines, jet engines, and choppers, and they are growing fast. That's the sort of the heart of our economy in the northern part of the state. But that's changing too. It's getting increasingly energy intensive. So I'm going to bring down the price of electricity as best I can and make sure they have the workforce. It's all sort of an AI computerized workforce now.