Federal cuts will put holes in the state budget

WASHINGTON--When Congress passed a stop-gap funding bill last week, it was not the usual plumped-up emergency spending bill to keep the government running.

It was, by Washington standards, a relatively slim funding measure-and one that sent a message to states: Not only is the federal stimulus spigot shut off, but other programs that provide aid to states may be cut as well.

CBPP's Robert Greenstein: Making 'states' fiscal situations worse'

"I really think the federal government is going to move in the next year from providing fiscal relief to states ... to [making] states' fiscal situations worse," Robert Greenstein, head of the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), said at a forum this week on the fiscal choices facing policymakers.

Such a reversal could hit Connecticut particularly hard, as the next governor and state legislature grapple with a projected $3.3 billion budget deficit.

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