When liberal lawmakers and low-income advocates exited the House chamber last January after Gov. Peter Shumlin's 2013 budget address, they were downright apoplectic.
Summoning the spirit — or at least the rhetoric — of Ronald Reagan, Shumlin vowed to take on the so-called welfare state. He proposed capping Reach Up benefits for needy families and diverting a portion of the Earned Income Tax Credit to fund other priorities. The Democrat-dominated legislature quickly rebelled, and many of Shumlin's proposals died a slow death.
This year, Shumlin sang a different tune.
Not far into the governor's 2014 budget address, which he delivered Wednesday afternoon to the Vermont House and Senate, Shumlin called on legislators to spend $4.3 million more next year to "move Vermonters out of poverty."
"In these challenging times, as the federal government continues to make shortsighted cuts that hurt our most vulnerable, our state must do what we can to blunt the damage by allocating our limited resources wisely," he said.
To that end, Shumlin proposed doubling the state's investment in rental subsidies and increasing funding for homeless shelters and child-care centers. Notably, he pitched spending $650,000 more on substance abuse and mental health treatment for Reach Up recipients.
It was as if he was pushing the reset button.