CT finalizing plan to blunt funding cuts amid government shutdown

CT finalizing plan to blunt funding cuts amid government shutdown

Gov. Ned Lamont and Democratic legislative leaders have nearly wrapped plans to use part of last fiscal year’s historic state budget surplus to blunt federal cutbacks to vital human service programs. The two sides won’t use more than $500 million from last fiscal year’s $2.5 billion surplus — the second-largest year-end cushion in state history — for a response fund, House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, and Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. L…