The pandemic-induced recession has left Connecticut legislators with one of their tightest credit card limits in recent history — less than one-seventh their 2020 level. “I supported the ‘debt diet’ during the beginning of the Lamont administration,” said Rep. Sean Scanlon, D-Guilford, new House chairman of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee. “I thought that what the governor was doing — basically pressing the pause button on bonding — was a good thing. But I think the needs have changed.” Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, the finance committee’s other co-chairman, said many segments of Connecticut’s economy are hurting. Connecticut’s new House speaker, Hartford Democrat Matt Ritter, said shortly after Democrats gained seats in last November’s elections that his caucus also was prepared to use state bonding to assist those hit hardest by the pandemic. Connecticut borrows billions of dollars annually for a wide array of initiatives including: highway, bridge and rail upgrades; capital projects at colleges and universities’; municipal school construction; state building maintenance; and open space and farmland preservation.
Lawmakers considering boosting CT’s credit card limit to assist those hurt by the pandemic