MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – President Trump campaigned on promises to radically scale back the size and scope of government in American’s lives. Now that his agenda is in motion, Vermont leaders — along with the rest of the world — are navigating how to respond to his “flood the zone” approach to policymaking.
As grassroots protestors marched at the Statehouse Wednesday, decrying what they see as an erosion of democratic values and tearing down of constitutional checks and balances, Governor Phil Scott reflected on the current political moment.
“I feel the president is fueled by what we’re seeing outside. He uses that to his advantage,” Scott said. The Republican governor, an outspoken critic of the president during his first term, says that his administration will deal with cuts and executive orders if and when they impact the state. “We can’t be outraged at every single thing that happens.” The governor formed a task force to prepare for the impacts of potential tariffs on Canadian goods.
But administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Mike Pieciak, see the need for more urgency. “I worry about that uncertainty and its broad impact on the economy in terms of its impact on state government. Uncertainty has a similar impact,” he said. Pieciak says he formed his own task force to prepare for potential funding cuts, deportations, and tariffs. “How can we get ahead of it? What kind of policies can we implement and what kind of information can we share with the business community and the general public?”
At another rally last week, state lawmakers also raised the alarm, saying the state should look into funding nonprofits or other services if they are on the federal chopping block. “Right now we are enumerating those harms and starting to look where in the budget we will need to reinforce our own self-sufficiency to be addressing those, and that’s going to take all of us regardless of party,” said Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale D-Chittenden County.
Governor Scott cautions that any broad changes to federal spending will need the go-ahead from Congress, which might balk at Trump’s efforts. “There are other senators and reps from rural states that might have a different opinion as to what effect whatever they’re going to do is going to have on their states,” he said.