Matt Ritter

The House of Representatives approved an agreement between the executive branch and state employee bargaining units that will help stabilize the state’s long term pension payment obligations.

The bill has come due. For 78 years, the state has evaded its responsibility and now it falls on us to do the right thing. If we followed their lead, we could balance the budget tomorrow - just put nothing towards the pension and our budget problems are gone. Here is the problem: If we didn’t act now, the payments get larger and larger and there would come a time where we could no longer pay our bills. The agreement is backed by the business community and credit rating agencies. Today we took the responsible step for the State of Connecticut.

The agreement has received support by a variety of organizations such as the Connecticut Business & Industry Association and the Pew Charitable Trust, as well as the S&P and Moody’s credit rating services.