Central Vermont holds first action on state budget

March 10, 2009

WCAX-TV News Coverage of the Event

On Sunday, March 8, almost 200 members of Vermont Interfaith Action of Central Vermont gathered at Christ Episcopal Church in Montpelier to ask eleven Washington County legislators to stop proposed budget cuts to several critical social service programs and instead shift their attention to ways to raise revenue.

The event was historic for VIA, demonstrating its presence in a new region on its way to becoming truly statewide.

As VIA board member and presenter of the research report, Rev Rich Forcier of the Barre Unitarian Universalist Church, stated, “...we express our dismay at services already cut, and we oppose any further reductions. These cuts violate our sense of moral responsibility, and they contradict the kind of Vermont that we wish to create.”

VIA leaders and testimonies focused on proposed cuts in the Social Security Income (SSI) program, increases to Catamount Health deductibles, 4% cuts to grants to nonprofits, implementation of “Full Family Sanctions” in the Reach-Up program, and a 70% cut to the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board as illustrations of the impact further cuts would have on Vermont’s safety net.

Stating clearly that balancing the budget must include revenue solutions, VIA leaders asked and received near unanimous support from attending legislators to protect services to Vermont’s most vulnerable, to explore alternatives to program cuts, and to meet with VIA to discuss their progress.

At the conclusion of the action VIA leader George Plumb of the Barre UU asked the audience, “Would you who have been sitting behind our legislators be willing to stand behind our legislators when they make the difficult decisions to be sure that the most needy among us can count on the least need among us?” To which, he received a standing expression of support from all who were in attendance.