Maine Democratic leaders attack federal budget cuts

AUGUSTA – Five of Maine’s top Democratic leaders Wednesday denounced federal budget cuts proposed by President Bush who was castigated by the liberal quintet for pursuing a fiscal policy of “budgetary recklessness” and squandering record surpluses racked up by the Clinton administration. Republican lawmakers later questioned the accuracy of the Democratic claims and countered that Maine is now receiving more federal funds than ever before.

“President Bush and his supporters in Congress have cut student loans, child support enforcement, foster care and supplemental security income aid for the elderly and the disabled,” said U.S. Rep. Tom Allen of the 1st District. “Their tax cuts have made the rich even richer and their failure to pay the cost of federal mandates have passed the burden for Homeland Security, No Child Left Behind and other programs onto state and local taxpayers.”

U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud of the 2nd District, Gov. John E. Baldacci, Maine House Speaker John Richardson of Brunswick, and legislative Appropriations Committee co-chairman Sen. Peggy Rotundo of Lewiston, joined Allen for the morning press event that was held in the State House Hall of Flags. All except Richardson, who is barred under Maine’s term limits from seeking re-election, will be on the ballot in November.

Allen, Michaud and the others assailed the $39 billion in current budget cuts which were approved by Congress Feb. 1 and another proposed $36 billion in cuts to be implemented over the next five years beginning Oct. 1.

Allen chastised Bush for promoting a Medicare bill that provided “millions of dollars” to the insurance and pharmaceutical companies and an energy bill that gave “billions in subsidies to the big energy interests.”

“The president’s policies will perpetuate harmful deficits, mortgage our children’s future and weaken America’s competitiveness in the global economy,” Allen said. “Unless Congress makes significant changes, we expect that the president’s misplaced budget priorities will be enacted.”

Michaud allowed that Bush’s 2007 budget contained “some good things for the state of Maine” including increased funding for the U.S. Coast Guard and more projects for Bath Iron Works. Still, he agreed the administration’s policies were creating “a lot of problems” for the state by reducing funds for health care and small business programs.

“These cuts are significant and can be a major burden on state government,” Michaud said. “These budgets, whether at the state level or the federal level, affect real people and we’ve got to always keep that in mind every time we vote to put something in or exclude something from the budget.”

Baldacci acknowledged the federal cutbacks had posed some challenges for the state particularly in the area of enforcing Maine’s drug enforcement laws. He also pointed out the impact of continued under-funding of special education costs. But Baldacci said none of the reductions was more difficult for him than the Bush administration’s decision to flat fund the state’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

The governor worked in a bipartisan fashion with the Legislature to secure $5 million in emergency state funding for fuel assistance last month, sought and accepted a $10 million gift in oil funds from Venezuela, and used his office to promote private contributions to help provide heating funds for the poor.

“Nothing hits home like seeing senior citizens, who are in their homes and not having enough heating assistance,” Baldacci said. “We made sure they were able to stay warm. The protection of our citizens is the state’s most vital responsibility and I take it very dearly.”

Richardson and Rotundo said the Maine Legislature was forced to deal with the full impact of Bush’s budget priorities, many of which have left the state with difficult decisions.

“The Bush administration has repeatedly undermined our efforts by cutting $126 million to hospitals, nursing homes for our elderly and home health care providers in Maine,” Richardson said. “Here in Maine, we’re providing the largest increase local education has ever seen in 25 years. However, in Washington the Bush administration is eliminating almost $6 million in vocational educational funding in Maine.”

“Unlike the federal government, we here in Maine are required by the state Constitution to balance our budget,” Rotundo said. “Cuts from Washington in recent years have made it increasingly difficult to do this as we’re faced with cutting services previously paid for by the federal government or coming up with state money. While it will not be easy given the president’s budget, we will continue to balance our budget here in Maine – we are fiscally responsible people.”

In a prepared statement, Republican legislative leaders countered the Democrats’ charges and questioned the accuracy of their allegations.

“They should check their facts before they speak,” said Assistant House Republican leader Josh Tardy of Newport. “Maine is getting more federal money than ever before.”

Citing the Legislature’s nonpartisan Office of Fiscal and Program Review, Tardy said federal funds flowing to Maine have increased significantly since 2002 when Maine received a total of $1.68 billion in federal money. In 2005, Tardy said Maine received a total of $2.26 billion, an increase of nearly $600 million. He added that a preliminary analysis of the 2007 federal budget shows federal funds coming to Maine will increase by 4.9 percent over 2006 levels.

Confronting Baldacci’s assertions concerning the flat funding of LIHEAP, Tardy insisted Maine received $25.5 million this year for the program – the highest initial amount in the last 20 years. He said that an additional $1.5 million in federal funds was released later and that Republican U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins are working to secure $1 billion more in LIHEAP funding for Maine and other cold-weather states this winter.

“The governor keeps attacking President Bush and blaming him for Maine’s problems,” Tardy said. “But the fact is that during Governor Baldacci’s term, the year-to-year increase in federal funds has averaged 10.7 percent. The problem isn’t the lack of federal funds. The problem is the inability to manage effectively. Mainers deserve more than the blame game.”