This is not going to be a super-smooth process. This is going to be an iterative process,” said Green Mountain Care Board member David Murman of the work required to participate.

Two fundamental issues dividing Republicans and Democrats are taxes and spending, and the size and jurisdiction of government.

Former governor Thomas P. Salmon, who died Monday, at age 92, was a plain-spoken politician, lawyer-businessman, Democrat with a deep-seated aversion toward the left-leaning wing of his party.

One lawmaker briefed on the proposal called it “probably the biggest proposal that this Legislature has seen in 50 years.” ...