Lawmakers should stop rushing the budget and get it right

Last week, State House Republicans offered Gov. John Baldacci’s majority Democratic Party a compromise resolution to provide adequate time for a responsible approach to fill the growing number of gaps in the governor’s original budget proposal. The offer came at a time when it was clear a bipartisan majority of the Legislature could not agree on major components of the governor’s $5.71 billion budget proposal.

The Democrats summarily rejected the Republican resolution to allow more time for both parties to work together and they have all but dictated that this budget be passed by April 1 – just days away. The only significance to this arbitrary deadline is that they can act without reaching consensus with their Republican counterparts, but as history shows us, Democrats and Republicans alike, instead of rushing to a vote, have customarily taken the time needed to craft and agree to consensus budgets.

To put this Democratic sense of urgency for an April 1 deadline into perspective, the partisan politics of the majority party come to light as 84 percent of Maine’s 19 previous biennial budgets (that’s 16 out of 19 according to the Office of Fiscal and Program Review) have been granted a full deliberation, negotiation and vote – well past the April 1 deadline chosen by the current majority party leadership.

In short, the artificial sense of urgency created by the majority party at the State House amounts to partisan politics at its worst during this current fiscal crisis.

Meanwhile, Democratic leaders have made public comments over the past several days to suggest that both parties agree on the largest portions of this budget, and that there are only a small percentage of issues on which the two parties disagree. That is simply not true. Committee after committee has reported back to the Appropriations Committee that there is bipartisan dissatisfaction with much of the budget proposal.

The Appropriations Committee has only begun to explore all of the issues on which there might be agreement, and to suggest that there is broad-based consensus on the majority of the budget is disingenuous.

It is clear that rushing the budget now ignores the increased bipartisan dissatisfaction that grows with each passing day as legislators from both parties, policy advocates and the public at large are learning that the governor’s budget blueprint creates more fiscal problems for Maine’s future than it solves in today’s trying fiscal times. Right now there are many reasons for lawmakers to stop rushing this budget and get it right.

With the Democratic-imposed deadline days away, many on both sides of the aisle are worlds apart.

Perhaps the most glaring example is Gov. Baldacci’s proposal to fill current shortfalls in the budget by borrowing against future lottery revenues. Simply, this is shortsighted, irresponsible and a squandering of revenue.

Any measure that seeks to balance the budget off the backs of future generations of Mainers should be off the table, and Sen. John Nutting, D-Leeds, and Sen. Ethan Strimling, D-Portland, are right to break ranks with the governor and join with Republicans in questioning the fiscal sense of the plan. Sens. Nutting and Strimling are just two of the silent majority to publicly ask, “Should we really sell off 10 years’ worth of lottery proceeds – valued at $400 million over 10 years – so that the state gets a discounted $250 million now to shore up this latest budget shortfall?” The answer is no, and the governor’s lottery scheme is a gamble not worth taking.

Additionally, at a time of fiscal crisis, when there is rapid and unsustainable expansion of MaineCare, the governor is content to give the “appearance of action” by holding expensive public forums on his ailing DirigoChoice. Gov. Baldacci has a real opportunity to lead his majority party boldly by addressing the state’s fiscal and public health crisis; he can start by reducing the overall size of state government. But proposing $100 million in cuts to Health and Human Services programs that help the neediest and most vulnerable among us, as the governor has offered, is not the place to start.

The Republican caucus is committed to investing the time necessary to reach bipartisan agreement on a budget that begins to address the structural gaps that loom large over the state for the next several bienniums.

Hopefully by reaching across the aisle as Republican lawmakers did last week, legislators can come to an agreement that more time is needed to address current problems with this unfinished budget. But in order to begin that process Republicans believe the majority party must be willing to discuss and act on two issues: reducing the size of state government and agreeing to an overall reduction in the size of the state budget; and addressing the recent rapid and unsustainable expansion of MaineCare.

But despite having history on our side, Republicans also have the concern and well-being of the future of Maine and the future generations on our side. Future generations who are going to be paying the tab for the majority’s errant spending, rapid expansion of Medicaid and Dirigo, massive amounts of new bond proposals and the governor’s risky lottery sell-off.

As was pointed out recently in these pages, solving these problems can only be done with a more deliberative and careful approach to the state budget.

Come April 1, if Democrats get their wish in rushing the budget process, the biggest April Fool’s joke will be on the people of Maine.

Randy Bumps is the chairman of the Maine Republican Party.