By Keith M. Phaneuf
State budget talks continued to stall today as Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration and Democratic legislative leaders remained at odds over how to resolve a nearly $1 billion shortfall in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey’s tweet on the final Saturday of the legislative session captured the mood between his caucus and the governor. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Ctmirror.org photo
And though talks — which bogged down late Friday — remained in limbo, Democratic legislative leaders insisted they are ready to resume talks with the governor at any time.
Still, both sides in the standoff concede time is running short as the General Assembly nears its constitutional adjournment deadline of midnight on Wednesday.
“We are absolutely still ready to talk,” Sen. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, co-chair of the Appropriations Committee, said around 3 p.m. today. “We’ve said we will go over the budget line by line.”