Delegation backs stimulus push, pans LIHEAP effort

All four members of Maine’s congressional delegation praised President Bush’s call to action on the economy in his State of the Union address Monday night. Beyond expressing their desire to work toward a bipartisan economic stimulus package, however, the delegation members offered mixed reviews.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins expressed her pleasure with the tax rebates being proposed “to help Americans who are struggling with high oil prices, a weakening economy, and a downturn in the housing market.”

She said in a prepared statement, however, that she was disappointed the president didn’t include increased funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Collins vowed to continue pressing for additional funds in the senate version of the stimulus package.

After the address, Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe called on the president and Congress “to work together to address the consequential issues facing the nation – from the economy and health care to the war in Iraq and global climate change.”

Snowe said in a prepared statement she was pleased the stimulus packaged included “incentives to assist small businesses to invest and create additional jobs.”

But she added that the president’s “dogmatic insistence on further free trade agreements blithely ignores the extent of the downside to trade liberalization for many hard-working Americans, businesses and communities – including three separate paper companies in Maine which were forced to close production lines in recent weeks.”

While saying he liked the part of the president’s address concerning the stimulus package, Democratic Rep. Tom Allen said many of the other ideas presented Monday were “recycled.”

Allen pointed to the president’s efforts to pump up the No Child Left Behind education initiative that isn’t “liked in Maine,” health savings accounts that “are not easily used by people who can’t afford health insurance,” and trade policies that are “misguided.”

He also challenged Bush’s call to stay the course in Iraq. Allen said rather than rely on the generals to tell us when to bring the troops home, it is time “to set a deadline and then push the kind of intense diplomatic effort that [former U.S. Senate Majority Leader] George Mitchell [of Maine] used in Ireland to make the [Good Friday Accord] work.”

Democratic Rep. Mike Michaud said he appreciated the president’s focus on the economy, but he was disappointed Bush called for “extending more of the same failed NAFTA-style trade agreements that have cost this country 3.2 million manufacturing jobs over the past seven years.”

The 2nd District congressman also was “deeply discouraged” the president didn’t commit more funding for LIHEAP.

Michaud also said the president “failed to offer a change in war strategy that will begin to bring our troops home. It remains clear that he fully expects to pass this responsibility along to the next administration.”