Deb Drobysh of Nashua attended the hearing with her daughter, Juliet, 11½, who has cerebral palsy and cognitive delays and is confined to a wheelchair. The single parent said she relies on Medicaid in-home support waiver services to care for her daughter that stand to be cut in the House budget.

"My daughter just needs a little bit of help," she testified. "Remember her face and who she is when you cast your vote."

Gina Balkus, director of government relations for Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, said she was concerned about the proposed suspension of money paid by the state to the state's largest hospitals for people who can't afford care.

"Let me put this into perspective," she said. "In 2001, Dartmouth-Hitchcock lost $3 million treating New Hampshire Medicaid patients. In 2011, our projected annual loss will be nearly $100 million."

Representatives of New Hampshire's community health centers, which provide primary and preventive care to over 125,000 residents and employ over 1,000 people statewide, said the House budget proposal makes $4.5 million in cuts to their primary care contracts, which would result in about 53 layoffs of primary care clinicians and about 13,500 patients losing access to their medical care.

Educators asked the committee to restore aid for buildings, including for those children entering kindergarten.

"They are our youngest citizens," Windham school board chairman Ed Gallagher testified. "They don't have an advocate."

Grace Mattern, executive director of the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, testified that the House budget is cutting half of the council's budget, or $150,000, which would fund three victim advocates, who can help up to 300 victims a year. The coalition has seen a 15 percent rise in victim reports, she said.

"These programs need to be ready to keep reaching out to victims more than ever before," she said.

The Senate committee also planned a hearing Thursday night.