Iam very dismayed over Gov. Little and Company's proposed permanent budget cuts to essential services, especially Medicaid and services for the incarcerated. These are a failure both morally and functionally. By extracting money from Medicaid, a lifeline for our sickest and poorest citizens, the state betrays the fundamental commitment to human dignity and the preferential option for the poor. A society's moral leadership is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable, and these cuts inflict harm on those who can least afford it.

Despite these painful reductions, reports project the state will still have a budget deficit. Inflicting suffering through service reductions and pay cuts is pointless if it fails to solve the fiscal problem. This is an indictment of governance that chooses moral

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