Lamont talks growing cities, federal funding cuts, state employee raises

CT Examiner – Wednesday, March 19, 2025
By Robert Storace

Gov. Ned Lamont sat down with CT Examiner at the midway point of the 2025 session with a biennial budget still to hammer in the heavily-Democratic legislature and real uncertainty about funding and new mandates from a Republican-dominated federal government.

It’s unclear, at this point, Lamont explained on Tuesday afternoon, what possible cuts to Medicaid and the potential closure of the federal Department of Education could mean for Connecticut and its budget. Lamont described the situation as fluid and a waiting game on many fronts when it comes to the new Trump administration.

In a wide-ranging conversation with Capitol Reporter Robert Storace, Lamont answered questions about the state’s struggling cities, state employee raises, and the impact that new federal policies may have on the state.

The 71-year-old two-term governor – fresh off a business trip to India to strengthen economic ties – said he’s proud of the job his administration has done in the areas of job growth, education, housing as well as efforts to make the state more affordable.

Answers have been edited for length and clarity.

Connecticut Examiner: Can you give us a big picture idea of how you would respond if the state loses a significant percentage of federal Medicaid funding? Would you consider loosening the guardrails or cutting benefits?

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont: Let’s put it bluntly – We get about $11 billion, half us and half the feds. They could block grant it, in which case we wouldn’t get much inflation money. It would go down over time, but we could survive for a couple of years. They could cut the minimum – right now we get a 50 percent minimum but if you really want to go after blue states, they could make it a 25 percent minimum. We will just have to see [about what the options are]. There’s no way I can make up the whole shortfall. You’d like to do something to help the most vulnerable, right. You know, 40 percent of our kids are born under Medicaid; 73 percent of the people in nursing homes. Nursing homes all go bankrupt if you just yank all that Medicaid.

CTEx: Are lost federal dollars a significant concern when you consider the budget over the next two fiscal years?

Lamont: Obviously, Medicaid is the biggest thing. But, you look at SNAP benefits and you look at the fact that they turned off the portal for daycare payments. I don’t want to jump to conclusions because I spend a lot of time talking to the secretaries down there [in Washington, D.C.]. They’ve only been on the job for less than three weeks. You know, like [Connecticut native] Linda McMahon [Secretary of the Department of Education] where we will try hard not to interrupt the flow of Title 1, Title 9. But, everything goes through DOGE [Department of Government Efficiency], so we’ll see what happens.”

CTEx: After annual pay raises for state employees amounting to 33 percent since 2019, would you consider a wage freeze similar to one put in place by your predecessor, Dannel Malloy, to offset federal dollars?

Lamont: I have a hard time hiring. Maybe some of your readers [would say] ‘God these guys are so overpaid, and they got this amazing pension, and everybody will kill to be a state employee.’ But, as you know, especially coming out of COVID, there was a real labor shortage for me to get nurses [for example]. I had to give state police a pretty good-sized wage increase. I had to give corrections officers a pretty good-sized wage [increase]. I was not able to hire DOT [Department of Transportation] engineers [and] if I was going to take advantage of some of the federal infrastructure money, I need engineers to be able to do that and also to hold down unemployment. I can’t just unilaterally zero out people and say you’ve got enough. Remember, we’ve had pretty good inflation the last six years as well.

CTEx: What is your number one priority as governor from now until the session ends in early June?

Lamont: Honestly, the balanced budget. We didn’t have that for many, many years in this state.

Note: Rob Blanchard, Lamont’s Director of Communications, would later clarify that Lamont was attempting to hold the legislature to a higher standard than prior budgets “that sometimes relied on revenue estimates that did not always come to fruition and difficult accounting that led to the need to tackle difficult consistent deficits,” in line with a constitutional obligation, in place since 1992, to balanced expenditures and estimated revenues.

And, you know, we had tens of billions on our credit card and pension debt, [and] healthcare debt and then we were lurching from deficit to deficit and that’s why you had those zeros. I’m pretty proud that we’ve had, you know, five – soon to be six – balanced budgets in a row. This one’s getting tight because of healthcare. And, I want [years] seven and eight to be balanced as well. That consistency, that predictability, is really important for working families and businesses. That’s my background.

CTEx: With so much emphasis placed on building housing to help poor children and families escape from the concentrated poverty of the state’s urban areas, can you articulate the key priorities of your administration for helping turn around the state’s long-struggling cities so they might be good places to stay?

Lamont: Our cities were 30 to 40 percent bigger 30, 40, or 50 years ago. And, now you look out here next to Bushnell and its parking lots and you’ve got brownfields and old factories and commercial, which are not at full capacity. So, I think you are going to see a lot of growth in our cities. We’re putting significant resources, investing there, bringing our cities back to life, bringing young families back. A lot of young families came back right after COVID and that was not just in Stamford and Norwalk, but also [places like] the Naugatuck Valley. More housing has been built there in the last five years. And, in New London, in part thanks to Electric Boat, more housing has been built there in the last [several] years. So, it’s promising. I want to keep it going. I think most of our growth will be in the 10 major cities.

CTEx: Are there policies that would attract more middle-class families to move to the cities and send their children to city schools?

Lamont: I think public safety in our cities and our state is safer than it’s been in many years. But, obviously, it’s really important for urban dwellers to maintain the quality of the education – you’ve got to have a really good K through 12 system to attract young families who want to be in the cities. We’ve put significant resources into trying to upgrade the quality [of schools]. Obviously, we’ve got the suburban schools and they are the best in the world. City schools, I’ve got to make sure they’re able to compete.

CTEx: Truancy and disconnection may be the greatest generational problem for high-school age students. Do you have ideas or goals that might make a difference in turning this situation around in Connecticut?

Lamont: You know, with all the talk about mass deportations, [some] Hispanic kids are not going to school, so the [truancy] numbers may be going up a little. They [Hispanic students] are a little afraid. I’d say we are doing a couple of things. We are rejuvenating our Youth Service Corps, more after school programs, more summer programs, and internships so the kids in high school maybe [can] spend them [time] part-time in a business or not-for-profit. So, making learning a little more interesting and relevant to what they want to do. I’m getting the damn smartphones out of the classroom, especially for K through 8. I’d say about 80 to 90 percent of the schools are doing that right now; high schools take a little longer, but getting them out of the classrooms.

CTEx: In December, your administration decided to take a pass on the latest round of offshore wind projects. Can you explain why, and whether the state is still committed to its goals of net-zero carbon emissions?

Lamont: I want to do everything I can to make sure that we continue to have adequate low-carbon energy sources here. We did the biggest wind purchase ever, you know, up at the state pier. It’s called Revolution Wind that turns on next year. We had about 10 cents a kilowatt hour; pretty competitive. The latest round came in significantly more than that. And, you know, I thought another round or two and the price would come down, but Donald Trump hates wind.

CTEx: Was your appointment of Mariana Monteiro in December as Connecticut’s Chief Equity and Opportunity Officer a commitment to making diversity, equity and inclusion a priority in spite of pressure from the Trump administration to change course?

Lamont: I really think you have to work hard to get the very best people to know about the job opportunities. Her job is to go to communities all over the state. She’s pretty good and, you know, she did this at Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky. You know, woke companies like that.

CTEx: Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon has vowed to make good President Trump’s pledge to disband the U.S. Department of Education. Can you outline some of your concerns about how that might affect Connecticut, and how your administration plans to respond?

Lamont: Let’s wait and see. Like I said, if it doesn’t impact Title 1 and Title 9 – our key funding things. If they want to route that through another department, like HHS [Health and Human Services], or something, I think we can live with that. I don’t think it’s the right move [disbanding the department]. Look, I just came back from [a business trip] India and they start teaching AI at the age of 10.

CTEx: If you decide to run for a third term as governor, what are the key things you would want to accomplish?

Lamont: The biggest investment we’re making is early childhood education. I want to see that brought to fruition. I think it’s absolutely vital in terms of giving kids the best head start in life. I know how important it is for our small businesses, so if we can continue funding that over the next three to four to five years, we’ll have universal early childhood starting with Pre-K, right down to infants and toddlers.

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