ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Governor Wes Moore testified in front of a joint committee in favor of his changes to the budget.
Moore is tasked with balancing Maryland's budget, which came into the session $3 billion off the mark, and handling a changing landscape from the federal administration.
VIDEO: Gov. Moore urges lawmakers to pass his changes to the budget
"Here in Maryland, these draconian moves could lead to tens of thousands of jobs lost, hundreds of thousands of lives disrupted, and the cratering of tens of millions of dollars in income," said Moore.
Only three people asked the governor questions.
All came from Republicans.
Delegate Jason Buckel highlighted that projections from the comptroller show his plan could raise taxes on some members of middle-class families.
"People that make $75-100,000 over one in four, 26.5% of filers, their taxes are going to go up under your proposal. And that people that make 100-200,000 over one third, about 34% of them, their taxes are going to automatically go up. You would agree with me then that those aren't really wealthy people," asked Buckel.
"Our goal and our focus is to make sure that we are giving middle-class families a tax break by being able to double the standard deduction and eliminate the standard deduction penalty. It is the most statistically effective way of being able to do that," said Moore.
Moore took questions from reporters following his portion of the hearing.
"This was going to be hard during normal circumstances, and these are not normal circumstances where we find ourselves actively pushing back against what we're seeing in Washington because I know and I believe in standing up for the people of our state, so this is going to be hard, but we do hard things," said Moore.
Republicans are firm in their stance: the state needs to cut funding to alleviate the budget issues and not increase taxes or fees.
"As we've said last month, the joint Republican caucus will not support any tax increases to the budget," said Senate minority leader Stephen Hershey.
The governor did not receive a single question from the Democratic members of the committee who make up the majority of the committee.
Moore will face the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee on Friday.
