Gov. Baldacci, delegation weigh in on ’07 Congress

Maine’s four-member congressional delegation and Gov. John Baldacci gave low-key assessments last week of the prospects for new or improved relations with the Congress that will convene in January under Democratic control for the first time in 12 years.

Compromises are likely to be the order of the day, with neither Democrats nor Republicans maintaining big majorities.

“It’s very close in the Senate,” said Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican. “We are facing a very serious deficit, and there is a very limited pot of money to go around.”

The Senate is divided between 49 Democrats and 49 Republicans. But Democrats have the majority because Vermont independent Bernie Sanders and Connecticut Democrat-turned-independent Joe Lieberman will sit with the Democrats. Republican Vice President Dick Cheney votes as president of the Senate only in a tie.

Besides, in the Senate the “magic” number always has been 60 votes, not a simple majority, Collins said. It can take 60 votes to end debate on legislation, and Collins said that forces bipartisanship.

Baldacci said the most expensive issue on the horizon for the states involves proposals to change Medicaid. There are proposed rule changes that could shift to the state $50 million to $60 million of the largest government spending program in Maine.

“What is overriding at the federal level is the federal deficit and debt,” said Baldacci, who served in the U.S. House before his election as governor. “I think people should be cautious in what they expect from the federal government.”

The list of shared federal-state responsibilities is long and the issues complex.

For example, the No Child Left Behind Act is up for reauthorization in 2007, and it’s expected Congress will look at the mandates under the federal Real ID Act of 2005.

That law requires states to make sure drivers licenses or state-issued ID cards are issued only after verification of a person’s identify.

Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap has said it will be impossible to meet a May 2008 deadline to start that new process. Congress appropriated just $40 million to help all the states implement the new system, and Dunlap said that is not enough for Maine to adopt the new procedures.

Rep. Michael Michaud, D-2nd District, said the state should not be looking for a “windfall” of dollars from the new Congress. But he said the state can expect more fairness.

“I expect there will be a change in priorities,” he said. “But we have to get our fiscal house in order, and that is not going to be easy to do.”

Michaud said he expects there will be increased funding for the states in some areas, such as education.

But that may be offset by reductions in other areas of spending, from block grants to scores of programs considered discretionary spending.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, a Republican and senior member of the delegation, said whether the Democrats can do better is a question. “We really have to wait and see if they can craft the bipartisan solutions that are needed,” she said.

Snowe, too, cited serious budget problems facing Congress and said additional money to help the states will be difficult to find with all the demands at the national level.

“I think the clear message in the last election was that we all must work together to solve problems, whether at the state or the federal level,” Snowe said.

Rep. Tom Allen, D-1st District, doubts the session of Congress wrapping up this fall will finish the major spending bills that are overdue for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.

He said the new Congress may have to finish the work.

“We will stop the fiscal mismanagement, doing tax cuts for the rich or deliberately shortchanging domestic programs,” Allen said. “We will stop the bleeding, most of the bleeding, but we are facing serious financial problems as a result of the policies of this administration.”

Baldacci pointed out that Maine’s congressional delegation has always worked together on state issues, and he sees no change likely in that cooperation.

“It was that way when I was in Congress,” Baldacci said. “It has been that way while I have been governor, and I don’t see it changing.”