With the federal government teetering on the brink of another partial shutdown, Gov. Ned Lamont and legislative leaders pledged Thursday to maintain an emergency state fund to shield human services programs facing deep cuts from Washington. The roughly $330 million remaining out of $500 million Lamont and the General Assembly dedicated to this effort was supposed to expire after January, returning to regular budget reserves. But given the uncertainty on Capitol Hill, the fund still is needed, the governor said. “The emergency is not over,” he said during an early afternoon press conference at the state Capitol. “We still have a three-alarm fire, and every day there’s more incoming.” Connecticut officials have been talking since last spring about using state funds to temper the efforts of President Donald Trump and the GOP-led Congress to reduce spending on Medicaid, nutrition assistance and other programs to help finance federal income and corporation tax cuts. Lamont and his fellow Democrats in the General Assembly’s majority agreed last November to take one-fifth of last fiscal year’s $2.5 billion state surplus — one of the largest in Connecticut history — to bolster programs subjected to federal cutbacks. The original plan was to make these funds available only until the General Assembly convened its 2026 regular session on Feb. 4. But state legislative leaders say on that date, or shortly thereafter, they will ask their members to vote to keep the still-unspent $330 million from that original $500 million allocation available to assist human service programs through the close of the fiscal year on June 30. House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, said the federal government has fostered “chaos” among all states and “unfortunately, I think that pattern is going to continue.” House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, speaks at a press conference about the emergency state response reserve fund on January 29, 2026. With him are Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven; House Majority Leader Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, Gov. Ned Lamont and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District. Credit: Shahrzad Rasekh / CT Mirror Partisan gridlock stopped Congress from enacting a budget before the current federal fiscal year began Oct. 1, with minority Democrats pressing the GOP to reverse deep cuts to federal tax credits that help households purchase health insurance on state exchanges through the Affordable Care Act. While a 43-day federal shutdown from Oct. 1 to mid-November was finally lifted with a compromise temporary funding resolution, that stop-gap measure expires Friday. But since the federal budget battle ramped up last fall, Ritter added, “nothing has done more to make Connecticut families have a more affordable life than this emergency fund in the last few months.” Lamont initially pledged funds from the reserve to bolster food pantries. On Nov. 7, one week after federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits stopped, he pledged to use state funds to reopen that program. That crisis ultimately was averted, though, by the mid-November congressional compromise that temporarily reopened the federal government. The governor committed more than $110 million from that fund to partially offset lost federal tax credits for low- and middle-income households seeking to buy health insurance on Connecticut’s exchange. The administration also sent assistance to Planned Parenthood and to the state’s 2-1-1 assistance phone line and web site that links households with a wide array of public and private social service programs. House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford, who last November supported creating the response fund, said it made sense when the General Assembly was not in session. But once lawmakers reconvene on Feb. 4, they should decide which programs facing cutbacks get funding from the reserve, he said. “I understand the importance of offsetting federal cuts to vital services impacting vulnerable populations,” added Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield. “However, the legislature convenes in less than a week. These are funding decisions that should ultimately be made by the full legislative branch, not unilaterally.”  Connecticut, which has used aggressive budget caps to force huge state surpluses annually since 2017, can resist the federal cuts more than most other states can, said Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven. Looney’s home city was one of three urban districts, along with Hartford and Waterbury, that recently lost federal Full Service Community School Grants. These provide mental health and other services to students and families. At least one program had to abruptly wind down services as soon as staff learned the U.S. Department of Education was rescinding funding. Looney, 77, one of Connecticut’s longest-serving state legislators, said, “We have never been in a position where we’ve dealt with the federal government as hostile to states that didn’t vote for” the president. U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, who also lives in New Haven, called the cuts ordered by Trump “political vengeance at the expense of our kids.” Lamont announced Thursday he would direct $4.5 million from Connecticut’s response fund to assist those three school districts. Clifford Beers Community Care Center Executive Director Ilaria Filippi, whose organization coordinated the Full Service Community Schools program in New Haven, said this award “allows the coalition of partners in New Haven to reinstate needed services that have demonstrated clear benefits for students, their families and school staff.” Filippi added that “We anticipate being able to quickly embed care coordinators and school coordinators and to work with our community partners to restart and realign the enrichment activities that were temporarily halted.” Also Thursday, Lamont ordered three other allocations from the fund: $11.4 million for the state Department of Social Services to cover Connecticut’s increased share of certain federal human service programs. $2 million to support community health workers who help residents understand federal changes to Medicaid and nutrition assistance programs. And $830,000 to replace canceled federal funding for mental health counselors in schools in northwestern Connecticut. ...read more read less