Voices for Vermont’s Children stands with the many organizations serving and giving voice to Vermonters who are being left behind by an uneven economic recovery in asking the legislature to increase investments in children and families.

For the second time in recent weeks, Gov. Peter Shumlin has proposed balancing the state budget on the backs of some of Vermont’s poorest citizens.

More budget cuts means shortchanging Vermont’s kids.

Vermonters Say Enough is Enough: Stop Balancing the Budget on the Backs of the Most Vulnerable of Us

As the House Appropriations Committee dealt with its version of the state budget Monday, members of the Save Our State Coalition took to sidewalks and front steps across Vermont, urging lawmakers to oppose cuts to health care and human services proposed by the Douglas Administration.

WPTZ produced a segment about the S.O.S. rally in Middlebury.

The House Appropriations Committee agreed unanimously Monday on a budget adjustment bill that postpones decisions on social service cuts and relies on more than $50 million in federal stimulus money to cover revenue gaps and spending increases.

The economy is hurting right now — and so are thousands of Vermont’s children and families. We don’t know yet how many more Vermonters’ economic survival will be threatened by the downturn, but we do know that thousands of families are already struggling and thousands of children are already growing up in poverty.

A couple hundred or so people gathered at the Statehouse today to protest the proposed budget cuts.

More than 100 Vermonters protesting Gov. James Douglas’ proposed budget cuts were met with heightened security at the Statehouse on Tuesday.

Read the transcript or link to mp3 audio.

There will be a joint hearing with House and Senate Appropriations Committees on February 9, 2009 from 4:30 to 7:00 PM on the Governor’s proposed FY 2010 State Budget.

A Democratic lawmaker wants to revive the income tax increase that the late Republican Gov. Richard Snelling persuaded lawmakers to enact to help the state cope with a 1991 financial crisis.

Several hundred Vermonters turned out for candlelight vigils across the state Monday to protest state budget cuts that some fear will hit hardest for children, the elderly, the poor and others who rely on state services.

Governor Douglas presented his 2010 budget address to the legislature Thursday, January 22nd.

A day after Gov. Jim Douglas called for a wide-ranging round of cuts to the state budget, advocates for groups ranging from children’s services to land conservation said Friday those cuts would be devastating and need to be avoided.

Rescissions already in effect

The House decreased the Governor’s increase of Medicaid and VHAP premiums by half in the budget bill (H.891) that recently passed the House.

Our state government put together a list of cuts that targets our poor, our elderly, our children, those with mental illness, and those with disabilities to a far greater degree than the rest of the population.