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I'm Mark Sudall. Welcome back to Power and Politics. Joining me now is Republican in Connecticut, Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding. Welcome. Morning, Mark. Thanks for having me. As always, yeah, now, Ryan Fazio and other state Republicans like yourself have been hard on the utility companies. Now, Steven, we are hearing about a possible 42% aquarium water rate hike. Is that right? Uh, and unfortunately, uh, that, that's going before PIA, um, and this really speaks to, in my opinion, uh, the, the continued oversight of the legislature that we need to have over PIA. Uh, in my opinion, PIRA has made decision after decision that has been. Contrary to the best interests of the consumer, this included, and so not only electric rates but we're seeing with other utility rates such as water, that the utilities have gotten completely out of hand. The monopolies that they have frankly are unwarranted and are now costing the consumers and residents of the state far, far too much. Give me your response this week to the governor's use of the emergency state response reserve. I, I, I think that some aspects of it, like the ACA subsidies, I support, the majority of my caucus supports, uh, we don't want to see individuals' premiums double going into the new year, obviously, uh, and so money that is sent to offset that, uh, are generally supported by myself and I think all Republicans up at Hartford for the most part. Uh, where I disagree with the governor and the Democratic majority is the. Fiscal irresponsibility involved with this. This is an off-budget slush fund, and it's actually overspending our spending cap by millions of dollars and leading us to very poor fiscal management, which I think will lead us to unfortunately tax increases in the future. So these off-budget slush funds that are going to different items, albeit some are noble. are again setting us up as a state for potentially record tax increases down the road because it's the same exact things we used to do before we got our fiscal house in order in recent years. There's also other aspects of it outside of the ACA subsidies that are really questioned, you know, taxpayer money of tens of millions of dollars going to Planned Parenthood and other well-connected political. That is not what the majority of individuals on both sides of the aisle, I think, intended for this fund. It was really supposed to be strictly related to offsetting federal cuts related to benefit programs that individuals receive, such as ACA subsidies, such as SNAPP. Giving the money out to well-connected political organizations again, I don't, I don't think is inherently what the fund was set up for. Now you and other Republicans have also been outspoken about Connecticut's labor market shredding almost 6000 jobs in September. That's a lot of jobs. Well, unfortunately, Mark, I think it speaks to the overburdensome regulatory structure we have here in Connecticut. We're top 10 in worst states to do business in. The governor continues to speak to the fact that we've changed our ways, that we're more responsible and more business friendly. We might be slightly, but we have a very long way to go. And if we want to retain individuals that are graduating college here in the state, young individuals that are growing up here, if we want to attract other individuals to move to the state to grow our economy. We need to look at our regulator structure here in Connecticut, which I said is overly burdensome. I think we have one of the highest minimum wages in the entire country. That that cripples small businesses. Small businesses can't hire new employees, and I've heard from them directly based upon the minimum wage increases we have without any legislative approval year after year, um, as well as other burdensome regulatory structures which continues to fuel the bureaucracy in Hartford, but cripples small businesses and even larger businesses throughout the state. Now there's a new poll out that says trust in the federal government right now is low. What are your takeaways from the president's address this week? I hope it starts us on a path working together. I think, you know, we see in Washington DC that there's no bipartisanship on both sides of the aisle, and continuously problems such as ACA subsidies being worked out, other budgetary issues being worked out which directly impacts the entire country is getting gridlocked based upon the fact that Both parties can't work together. Um, I, I call on both parties, Republicans and Democrats in DC, to come together for the better of this country as opposed to playing politics, which DC continues to do. You know, take a lesson from other state legislatures across the country that craft annual budgets or biannual budgets, balance them, and balance them generally and many times on a bipartisan basis. This past week, uh, just marked 13 years since the massive shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. What have we learned and what else can be done? I, I think there's a number of things we've learned. I, I, I grew up and, and, and live today, uh, in the town next to Newtown. I remember that day like it was yesterday. It was sickening, awful, uh, the worst of your imaginations, you know, come true, unfortunately. And some parents and families, lives, their lives were changed forever and too many lives were lost. I think what we've learned is that safety protocols in our school, having police officers guarding and watching these schools to ensure that everyone inside is protected, and also. We've learned about addressing mental health issues early and spotting students that may need assistance with mental health issues and giving them the services they they they they they need. Otherwise it could lead unfortunately to circumstances in which somebody with a mental health issue does something as sickening and terrible and tragic as what happened unfortunately 13 years ago. And now to follow up on that, um, certainly we saw what happened at Brown University and in Australia. I mean it just never seems to end here. It doesn't, and I think it speaks to, unfortunately, humanity, and, and, and I think you know we see us becoming more divisive as a nation, but as, as you mentioned, even in Australia across this globe, we're, we're becoming more divisive and individuals are turning to violence, for whatever reason, um, all of it is terrible and and and and none of it is correct or right. We need to start coming together as human beings, frankly, or else this is never going to stop. All right, Steven, thank you so much. Uh, happy holidays and have a great new year. Same to you, Mark. Thank you for having me. Thank you. These hospitals stopped providing treatment to our patients because they are transgender. A lawsuit against two of Connecticut's major healthcare providers claims they're illegally discriminating against transgender children.

https://vod.prod.alticeustech.com/transcode/119ce1ad-d45c-48f6-bcdb-1fdf84e0fe5a/119ce1ad-d45c-48f6-bcdb-1fdf84e0fe5a.transcribe

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President Trump addressed the nation this week. He started off by explaining how his administration had to clean up the mess inherited from President Biden. Trump rattled off what he believes are his accomplishments, including cracking down on immigration, the war on drugs, and the. Ceasefire between Iran and Israel. He also spoke about the future, discussing healthcare and announcing agreements with pharmaceutical companies. Trump says the goal is to reduce the price of drugs sold in the US to the lowest level available in peer countries. The first of these unprecedented price reductions will be available starting in January through a new website, trumprx.gov. And these big price cuts will greatly reduce the cost of healthcare. Now the Trump RX platform will direct visitors to purchase medications directly from manufacturer websites, but there's one big caveat, the prices will be available for cash buyers and not those using insurance plans. A lawsuit filed on behalf of 10 people and families around Connecticut is challenging the decision from both Yale New Haven Health and Connecticut Children's Medical Center to end the majority of their care for transgender patients under the age of 19 this past summer, even though both providers say they worked to support the families as they ended their care. Lawyers say some of Their clients still haven't found new places to get their treatment or now have to travel hours. The lawsuit also says that while hormone medication and puberty blockers are no longer available for trans patients, they are still being given to cisgendered ones for other issues, something they claim is a violation of state anti-discrimination laws. It's no secret that the Trump administration is openly hostile to transgender people and has been waging a pressure campaign to try to shut down this care. That said, uh, there was no state law and no federal policy requiring these hospitals and healthcare systems to do this. Yale New Haven Health says it is still offering mental and other healthcare services to trans children and teenagers, while CT Children's says it's committed to providing inclusive, respectful care to all children. That's all our time. I'm Mark Sudall. Thanks for watching.

https://vod.prod.alticeustech.com/transcode/6e8dc25e-8985-4cc4-ae8f-28468cd58f04/6e8dc25e-8985-4cc4-ae8f-28468cd58f04.transcribe

Gov. Ned Lamont and Republican State Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding join the show.

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