During an interview with CBS News on Wednesday, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) said that federal budget cuts are harming the state and they won’t “change our stripes” on DEI even though federal spending cuts are targeting DEI.
Lamont began by discussing a state portal on the impact of federal budget cuts, saying, “Look, the incoming from Washington is every day, or even more frequent. We’ve got to know how it impacts people. It impacts our universities, it impacts our not-for-profits, … sometimes the portal for child care turns on, sometimes it’s off. So, this online portal is one way we can help keep up and manage.”
Later, CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Major Garrett asked, “Some of these federal spending cutbacks are related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. How do you process that and what is your answer to administration assertions, repeated over and over, that anything that is DEI is, by its very nature, racist?”
Lamont answered, “I think it’s so far off. We have a group, we work, we go to every single neighborhood in the state, we work very hard to make sure the best and the brightest, whatever your background, have an opportunity to serve in state government, to be a teacher, to be an engineer. We do have somebody who’s in charge of opportunity for our state, she comes out of Pratt Whitney, that woke jet engine company, making sure the best and brightest do that. Look, I don’t care about the word DEI, but I do care about the word opportunity, and we’re not going to change our stripes.”
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