Gov. Mark Dayton and a host of legislators offered support to more than 600 social workers who rallied at the state Capitol today against cuts to health and human services, education and workers rights.

Borrowing Dayton’s rhetoric, Alan Ingram, executive director of a social workers association, welcomed activists in the Capitol rotunda to “your house, the people’s house.”

He and other protesters criticized the GOP’s proposed cuts to the elderly, the chemically dependent, those with disabilities and other “vulnerable populations” that are typically underrepresented at Capitol events.

In the House, those cuts translate to about $1.6 billion, said Rep. Jim Abeler, who has appeared at such rallies in the past.

Abeler, chairman of a House Human Services committee, defended Republican cuts by reminding protesters about the dire economic straits facing Minnesota and stressed the need for reforms.

“We have our hands full,” he said of GOP leaders attempting to balance the $5 billion budget deficit. “These are difficult times.”

Both Abeler’s Human Service omnibus finance bill and its Senate counterpart will be heard Tuesday in the Ways and Means Committee before going to a conference committee.

Dayton, repeating his talking points from other rallies about health and human services cuts, called on the social workers to make their representatives understand that beneath the cuts and numbers, real people will be affected.

When advocates speak with lawmakers, their role is “to give voice to the voiceless, to give faces to the faceless,” Dayton said.

Abeler agreed and asked testifiers to fill in any “blind spots” about the effects his legislation may have.

After speaking at the rally, Dayton outlined some progress in working with HMOs that administer state programs. Officials are seeking financial donations from their profitable operations to help plug the state’s budget gap. He said Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson is currently meeting with the companies and any specific progress will be released later today.