Dems’ budget plan nears accord

AUGUSTA – Rumors of agreement by majority Democrats on most, if not all, provisions of the governor’s revised $160 million supplemental budget were circulating Wednesday night throughout the State House as a key legislative panel prepared for a final stand on the bill.

Details were unavailable on which new fees or cost-cutting measures would be recommended to minimize proposed cuts in health care services to Mainers participating in MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program. Democrats on the Appropriations Committee were preparing to meet with Republicans on the panel late Wednesday evening to determine if the plan was capable of winning bipartisan support.

Republican leaders weren’t holding their breath in anticipation of consensus.

“It’s not even close,” said House Republican leader Joe Bruno, R-Raymond. “The [Democratic] governor has made no tough choices in this budget. He’s allowed his caucus to lead the state into ruin.”

Three months ago, lawmakers closed a $109 million shortfall in the state’s fiscal year that ends June 30. The current proposal under review addresses a $160 million deficit in the fiscal year beginning July 1. A little more than $128 million of the total budget request represents a Medicaid shortfall that the governor said resulted, in part, from reduced federal funding.

Gov. John Baldacci said Wednesday he had negotiated with Democratic leaders until midnight Tuesday and reached agreement on some unidentified key stumbling blocks. As of Wednesday afternoon, the administration and Democrats were said to be no more than “a few million dollars” apart on the budget proposal that will keep the state’s books balanced through June 30, 2005.

“We’re not completed yet,” Baldacci said. “I’ve met with Republicans and told them that we’re proceeding toward a bipartisan budget. There’s enough for everyone to be able to say they’ve gotten something out of this process and have made an impact on the budget. There’s also enough there for them to conclude that they didn’t. But we’re cutting the budget and we’re looking out for those who are most vulnerable and trying to balance so many needs.”

Bruno and Senate Republican leader Paul Davis, Sangerville, were bitter over the way Democrats had handled the supplemental budget negotiations and reserved some of their most caustic remarks for Baldacci, who they claimed had demonstrated an embarrassing “lack of leadership.” Bruno accused the governor of stringing Republicans along with vague promises while cutting side deals with Democrats.

“I don’t like to be taken for a fool,” he said. “It was a majority budget all the time. The governor’s looking at a $930 million structural gap in the next [two-year] budget. He should have stepped forward and told the Democrats, ‘I’m the governor, you’re my party and I need to lead the state down the right path.’ He hasn’t done that.”

Senate Democratic leader Sharon A. Treat, Farmingdale, has been a major player in many of the behind-the-scenes negotiations leading to the conclusion of the budget process. She said Democratic leadership and the governor had not been “entirely on the same page throughout the process.”

“There’s been a lot of give and take between the governor and the Appropriations Committee Democrats, for sure,” she said. “It should be no surprise that a lot of that discussion has centered on how much should be taken out of MaineCare. We’ve agreed now on how much should be taken out and it is pretty significant and it will require some pretty significant restructuring.”

Treat expressed a little surprise at the level of GOP disgruntlement over the budget and suggested Bruno’s assessment may not be shared by all of the Republicans on the Appropriations Committee. She said Republicans and Democrats on the panel have been “very cordial” to each other during the budget review process and were trying to find consensus.

“They’re positioning themselves so that it will be more difficult for them to break from each other if it’s at all possible to come together with a joint budget,” she said. “A great deal of this budget has been supported by both sides, not always unanimously, but a lot of it was.”

Davis said Treat’s characterization of the budget discussions failed to acknowledge core GOP objections. He said there were numerous problems with the spending proposal, adding Republicans had gained little from a process that is supposed to involve mutual degrees of compromise.

“There’s too many taxes and other revenue enhancers and not enough reductions,” he said. “Republicans are basically looking for a budget that protects the most defenseless in our society without raising taxes or creating more state employee positions. This is a real poor time to be creating any kind of new state jobs. We just don’t agree with them.”