HARTFORD, Conn. -- Gov. Jodi Rell announced she has vetoed both budget mitigation bills and called both bills further examples of the Democrat-controlled Legislature's refusal to confront the reality of our state's financial crisis.

Rell said, "Called into special session to deal with a budget deficit estimated between $337 million and $550 million, the Democrats in the Legislature managed to trim state spending by a feeble $12.4 million. It is a repeat of the same pattern we have seen time and again this year. Regrettably, it is an outright refusal to admit that state spending has far exceeded the ability of state taxpayers, any state taxpayers, to pay for it."

Rell said her decision was based on numerous problems in the bills and said that many of the proposed savings are likely to be unworkable.

Since the state's budget crisis began, the majority of the spending cuts that were made have come through Rell's use of her authority to order recessions.

Rell said, "The legislation that I have drafted does not give a governor unlimited power to slash budgets. Writing and following a state budget is, and should remain, a balanced process, something that involves all three branches of government. When the process, and the budget, is badly out of balance, as is certainly the case right now, someone must be able to restore that equilibrium. As chief executive of our state, it makes sense that a governor have that authority."

Currently, a governor can make recessions when a budget deficit exists that is greater than 1 percent of the general fund.