The Vermont House has sent its version of the 2024 state budget to the Senate. The House version was criticized by the governor just days before its passage and Republicans in the House are echoing his concerns.
Vermont Governor Phil Scott presented an $8.4 billion budget to the legislature for consideration. The plan approved Friday by the House was larger at $8.5 billion.
Deliberations were along party lines with Democrats supporting the House changes and Republicans opposed.
Republican Anne Donahue of Northfield said while many initiatives in the budget are important, the overall budget is shortsighted.
“The question is, are we being responsible as we look just a few years down? Is that spending, whether one time or initiating significant new programs sustainable for the future, or is it going to set us up for a fairly catastrophic budget in the next several years to come? It's, I believe, irresponsible for what we face in the future, the depth of what we propose to create this year.”
Vergennes Democrat Diane Lanpher is chair of the House Appropriations Committee.
“When we have received the budget or the suggested budget from the Governor, when we bring it to the floor everything in this budget now is ours. It represents the position of the House. This is all our budget now, the House’s budget.”
Waterbury Democrat Theresa Wood says the House budget responds to the needs of Vermonters.
“This budget is sustainable from my perspective, and it actually prevents catastrophic changes in our social safety net. It does that in ways that were not presented in the budget that we were originally presented with. I find that what the Appropriations Committee has done is actually shored up our existing systems of support. They've shored up things that have been lacking for some time and have not been addressed.”
Republican Casey Toof said his constituents in the Town of St. Albans were clear that the state needs to be more affordable and to stop spending money.
“And they also said we need help in areas of child care, paid family leave, and other programs like that. And we can do that. We have that with the Governor's recommend. It achieves these goals without raising new taxes or fees. And we're also not making these important investments in future infrastructure projects. And it's really hard to look at money that's going to be left on the table for future years.”
Lincoln Democrat Mari Cordes spoke in favor of the House plan.
“I appreciate the concern for fiscal responsibility. However, the best way to cripple agencies, departments and offices is to chronically underfund them. I think that's fiscally irresponsible. And I am grateful to the policy committees and the Appropriations Committee for fixing those errors.”
Poultney Republican Patricia McCoy thanked the Appropriations Committee for its work but finds the end result untenable.
“We have before us a budget that is the largest in our state's history: $8.53 billion. There are many things that make this budget unprecedented. We increased the base amount of this budget by 12% and this includes programs stood up in this budget without full funding. We are using one time money for ongoing costs and that is unsustainable. It will lead to two things: tax increases and program cuts.”
The House budget was passed on a 111 to 38 vote and sent to the Senate for consideration.
