Maryland officials sliced nearly $150 million out of the $63 billion state budget on Wednesday, a trim that will help fund health care and child care assistance programs that are experiencing booming enrollment.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said “thoughtful deliberation, countless hours of consideration, countless hours of debate and a very careful review of various cost-containment measures” went into his decision about which programs to cut.

The Democratic governor said the cuts are necessary to boost priority programs that will help the state’s economy grow by keeping people healthy and working.

“We know that when Marylanders have access to health care and also access to preventative care and when families have access to affordable child care, they are more likely to participate in our labor force and participate in our economy,” Moore said.

At Moore’s behest, the cuts were approved by the Maryland Board of Public Works, but only after impassioned pleas from those affected by the cuts.

Maryland Public Defender Natasha Dartigue spoke against $1.13 million in cuts to her office.

“OPD has been woefully under-resourced for decades,” she said, noting that the majority of criminal defendants are represented by public defenders.

“It is unfathomable how OPD can appear on the list. OPD is in crisis. Every dollar matters,” she told board members.

Laura Malkus, president of Baltimore’s Fells Point Corner Theatre, protested a cut to the Maryland State Arts Council, arguing that funding is needed to help mitigate the “economic disaster” that arts organizations are facing due to inflation, changing audience behaviors and the coronavirus pandemic.

The Maryland State Arts Council, which is housed in the Department of Commerce and awards grants to organizations and artists to promote the arts and expand arts programming, was scheduled for a $440,000 cut.

At the Maryland Department of Agriculture, most of the cuts are being felt by the Rural Maryland Council, which advocates for rural communities and issues grants to promote community and economic development in rural regions.

“We feel that we’re the community that can least afford the cut,” said Charlotte Davis, executive director of the council, which will lose $2.25 million, or nearly 25% of its budget.

Rural communities still struggle with high unemployment and poverty, and lack access to services like transportation, high-speed internet and health care, Davis said.

“The cut is somewhat disparate, while you call it targeted and strategic,” she said.

Lobbyist Bruce Bereano, representing some rural counties, said the Rural Maryland Council cuts are “pretty traumatic” for their programs.

Treasurer Dereck Davis acknowledged that the cuts aren’t easy. While some may make blanket statements that the government should make budget cuts, they forget that real people are affected, said Davis, a Democrat.

“While it may not be important to me, or it may not be important to you, every single dollar this state spends benefits somebody,” Davis said. “Somebody thinks this program is important. Somebody thinks that grant is important.”

Comptroller Brooke Lierman, also a Democrat, said it’s important for the state to make “strategic but tough fiscal decisions” given that the amount of money coming into state coffers isn’t keeping pace with the growth of its budget.

The wide-ranging reductions across multiple agencies restrict program spending and delay hiring for state agencies.

State Budget Secretary Helene Grady said that, in many cases, the cuts are to programs that got extra money or were expanded in the budget year that started July 1, so the money hasn’t been expended yet.

“These budget actions are very targeted,” Grady said, in response to questions from Lierman.

Post-pandemic adjustments may be partially to blame for the changes. More people than estimated have proven eligible for Medicaid since the pandemic has ended, and more parents going back to work have driven a demand for affordable child care, according to top administration officials.

The state’s Child Care Scholarship Program helps working families pay for day care, and has grown from 24,000 children in January 2023 to 40,000 children today. The state put enough money in the budget for 40,000 children to participate, and they expect the enrollment number to continue to grow.

Meanwhile, officials have faced challenges in planning for enrollment in Medicaid, the health insurance program that’s jointly funded by the state and federal governments. During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Medicaid members did not have to prove their eligibility, a requirement that’s recently been reinstated.

Top Republican lawmakers criticized Moore’s framing of the budget maneuvers, saying they’re not true cuts to the budget, since the money is being moved elsewhere, which Sen. Steve Hershey, the Senate Republican leader, said was “akin to looking for coins in the couch cushions” to make up for flawed projections.

And the budget moves don’t address the long-term shortfall that the state is facing, Republicans charged.

“Governor Moore’s Administration and Maryland Democrats must address these massive spending mandates that swamp us for the long term before asking for another dime from taxpayers,” Sen. Justin Ready, the minority whip, said in a statement. “How does any of this fuzzy math grow our economy, build new pathways to work, wages and wealth for all?”

While the governor proposes the state budget and it is approved by state lawmakers, the governor can request limited midyear changes by going through the Board of Public Works, a three-member panel that has the final say on state contracts and spending. The governor is one of the three-member board.

The maximum cut allowed is 25%.

Though the cuts can legally be made now, they can’t be moved over to the other programs until January, when the General Assembly is back in session and lawmakers fully open the budget books again.

Grady, the budget secretary, indicated further difficult budget decisions could lie ahead, as the state gets updated information about revenue forecasts this fall. Maryland is facing projected long-term budget shortfalls, due to a combination of factors including significant increases in state spending for education and worker minimum wages, tax cuts for the state’s lowest earners, and slower economic growth than other states.

The last time a Maryland governor put forward midyear cuts was in 2020 during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic that initially put a strain on state resources. Then-Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, proposed $672 million in cuts, and settled on $413 million in cuts approved by the Board of Public Works.