Gov. Phil Scott listens to a question during his weekly press conference at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Wednesday, February 12, 2025. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThis story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont P ublic.Gov. Phil Scott delivered his first veto of the 2025 legislative session over a midyear spending package on Friday morning.The five-term Republican wrote in his veto message that he wants to hold off on increased state spending as state officials anticipate federal funding cuts to key programs. But beyond disagreements over dollar figures, Scott disapproves of the extension the annual budget adjustment bill gives to some unhoused Vermonters living in state-sponsored motel rooms. The governor said the extension would reverse progress the state had made last year on reforming the program.“After nearly five years of experience, we know this approach is far too expensive and fails our constituents, communities and taxpayers,” Scott wrote.Scott has long sought to wind down the motel program’s pandemic-era expansion, particularly since federal aid dried up two years ago. In his veto message, the governor referred to the program as “free,” though an income contribution has been required for participants since legislators mandated one in 2023. Last spring, lawmakers signed off on new restrictions for program participants, which resulted in the eviction of over 1,500 people over the course of the fall — including 378 children. That prompted a public outcry, including from some legislators who helped craft the law.When they returned to Montpelier this year, Democratic legislators attempted to head off another round of evictions slated to begin in two weeks, on April 1. The budget adjustment bill they sent to Scott’s desk on Wednesday would keep the program’s looser winter rules in place until June 30, with a price tag of an additional $1.8 million.Friday’s veto throws that extension into question. Scott, however, has stated that he stands by a proposal his administration brought to lawmakers two weeks ago that would give municipalities $2.1 million in flexible grants, allowing cities and towns to set aside money for motel rooms or to expand shelter capacity when people leave the motels this spring.“This compromise proposal, or something similar, remains on the table,” Scott wrote in his veto message.But thus far, Democratic leadership does not appear to have an appetite for the idea.“The Governor’s proposal to shift the responsibility to municipalities would cost more, not less,” Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central, wrote in a statement on Friday. “We will continue to fight for the unhoused — the most vulnerable, as Governor Scott generally refers to them.”But Democrats no longer have a clear path to override Scott’s vetoes, after losing their supermajority in the Legislature during last fall’s elections. That means they would likely need to hash out a deal with Republican lawmakers and the Scott administration on a new budget adjustment bill, or go without the midyear spending package. This is a developing story and will be updated.Read the story on VTDigger here: In first veto of 2025, Phil Scott strikes down spending bill that would extend motel stays. ...read more read less