The federal government braced for a possible shutdown this weekend as the White House and congressional negotiators worked on a spending plan for the rest of the fiscal year. In a Senate floor speech Wednesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, warned that proposed spending cuts would hurt tens of thousands of Vermonters who rely on programs ranging from Head Start for children to Pell grants for college students to Social Security Administration services for seniors.  Sanders has called for a millionaire surtax and closing corporate loopholes as ways to combine revenue with cuts to bring down the deficit.

House Republicans, meanwhile, forged ahead with a budget blueprint for even deeper cuts in 2012. The plan by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan would privatize Medicare, cut Medicaid and other domestic programs, and lower tax rates for corporations and the wealthy.

“Congressman Paul Ryan’s budget proposal is extraordinarily unfair.  At a time when the wealthiest people are becoming wealthier, it would substantially lower taxes for the rich,” Sanders said. “At a time when the middle class is struggling and poverty is increasing, it would decimate Medicare and dozens of other programs, including education, which are of enormous importance to working families and to our country.”