Hundreds of people packed the Hall of Flags in the State House to protest proposed cuts to DHHS services.
AUGUSTA, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- Hundreds of people packed the Hall of Flags in the State House to protest a proposal to cut millions of dollars in funding for a wide variety of programs.
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services is projecting a $120 million shortfall in the MaineCare budget this year and another $100 million deficit next year. Those projections have forced Mary Mayhew, the commissioner of DHHS, to slash funding for many health and social services to close the gap.
Today, the state held the first of three days of public hearings to gather information and testimony on the proposed cuts. So many people showed up to voice their opinions, that overflow rooms were opened up to allow people to listen to the proceedings.
"We are here by the hundreds because we believe these cuts are unacceptable and that Maine can do better," exclaimed Betsy Sweet as she addressed the gathered crowd at the mid-morning rally.
"Tens of thousands of our kin, members of the one human family of Maine, will be hurt by these cuts," proclaimed Rev. Jill Saxby, executive director of the Maine Council of Churches,"including many who are elderly, who are children, who are living with disabilities, who are low income, who need healthcare, who need shelter."
"I need to be healthy to work, to support my family," Shanna Rogers, a single mother of three explained. "We need to save MaineCare and funding for Headstart and child care for working families who are trying so hard to improve their circumstances."
Not everyone in attendance was against the proposed cuts.
"I feel that we have to do this now, or we will not be able to be in the position to provide for the truly needy in the future," stated Kerin Resch. "I think there has been quite a legacy for quite a long time where people have just spent, spent, spent without realizing the repercussions of that spending."
The public hearings on the proposed cuts will continue beginning at 8:30 on Thursday and Friday mornings.
NEWS CENTER