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Fairfield Sen. Tony Hwang Blasts State Cuts In Hospital Funding

FAIRFIELD COUNTY, Conn. -- State Sen. Tony Hwang, R-28, is blasting an order by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to make $103 million in cuts to the state budget – including $63.4 million in funding to hospitals – less than three months into the new fiscal year: 

Tony Hwang

Tony Hwang

Photo Credit: File

“We can blame Wall Street volatility all we want. We can talk about the $52 million in state taxpayer-funded aid for the [Westport-based] Bridgewater hedge fund till we’re blue in the face. And lament the looming loss of GE and other businesses. But the reality is that we need to make fundamental reforms to the way we tax and spend in Connecticut," Hwang said. 

He said the state budget was flawed from the beginning. 

“My Republican colleagues in the legislature and I knew that Gov. Malloy and the Democratic leadership’s budget was severely flawed on many levels, including the overly rosy revenue projections that necessitated the governor’s rescissions, and that’s why we voted against it in the first place." 

Hwang said the state needs to make spending cuts — while it maintains important services.

“I have long said our state has a spending problem – even the most recent budget represents a 7 percent increase over two years – yet I have always maintained that we can get our spending in control ... if we have the courage to make the truly difficult decisions," he said. 

Hwang said the answer to the state budget woes lie in reducing state employee costs, not in cutting funds for health care services.  

“Yet once again, the governor has targeted our state’s most vulnerable residents instead of looking inward," he said. "If we need to make cuts – and clearly we do – then why can’t we rein in the excessive state employee overtime spending ... or hold off on the hiring of 134 new employees as the budget calls for?" 

Hwang said the state's priorities are misplaced. 

“I can only hope the governor and Democratic legislative leadership heed Republican calls for a special session so that we can repair the damage that has just inflicted on the people of Connecticut, before it is too late,” he said.  

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