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AIMED AT JOBS

Key vote advances funds for Maine

Snowe, Collins crucial in breaking deadlock once again

By Rebekah Metzler rmetzler@mainetoday.com
MaineToday Media State House Writer

With key support from Maine Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, a $26 billion funding bill  that would provide aid to cash-strapped states for education and Medicaid spending overcame a GOP filibuster Wednesday and sped toward almost-certain Senate passage today.

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Sen. Susan Collins, left, and Sen. Olympia Snowe

AP

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Spending

Maine
• $77 million for Medicaid
• $39 million for education
U.S.
• $16 billion for Medicaid
• $10 billion for education

Offsets
• $11.9 billion from reducing food stamp benefits back to pre-stimulus levels, beginning in 2014
• $9.6 billion from closing foreign tax credit loopholes
• $6.7 billion from reduced spending in federal programs and unused stimulus funds

Source: Congressional Budget Office

In Maine, the spending package would send about $77 million to the state’s General Fund and another $39 million for local aid that would flow directly to school districts to help prevent teacher layoffs.

The measure advanced by a 61-38 vote Wednesday morning. The bill, drafted by Democrats, needed 60 votes to overcome a procedural hurdle put forth by Republicans.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would call the House back into session next week to approve the measure to get it to President Barack Obama for his signature before most schools reopen.

Snowe and Collins voted with the majority of Democrats in favor of the measure, H.R. 1586, which is an extension of two programs originated in the federal stimulus package passed in 2009.

The legislation is completely paid for by spending cuts in programs such as food stamps; the closing of certain foreign tax credit loopholes, worth about $9.6 billion; and by using unspent federal funds, including unused stimulus funding.

“There is no question that states, including Maine, continue to suffer from the lingering effects of the national recession and declining revenues,” Snowe and Collins said in a joint statement. “We understand that, as our national and state economies continue to struggle, a further extension of the enhanced (Medicaid funding formula) is necessary to help states protect against further job losses as the economy slowly turns around.”

Maine’s current biennial budget is about $700 million less than the previous one and had to cope with approximately $1 billion in lost revenue as a result of the economic recession.

The state has also had to deal with greater demands on social service programs, such as MaineCare, which has increased enrollment by 19,000 over the last year as a result of the downturn, according to the Maine Hospital Association.

Though both senators had voted to approve a similar spending bill in March, concerns about deficit spending prompted them to withhold support for more recent such proposals.

A Monday vote on the bill was postponed by Democrats when they found out the measure would add to the deficit. Additionally, Collins had expressed concerns about Defense Department spending cuts contained in the legislation that may have affected the Navy shipbuilding budget and, by extension, Bath Iron Works — one of Maine’s largest employers.

Senate Democratic leadership, listening to the concerns of the Maine moderates and others, produced a final measure that did not add to the deficit or make shipbuilding cuts, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The CBO said the legislation would actually reduce the deficit by about $1.37 billion over the next 10 years.

Maine advocates who supported the spending package — including the Maine Health Care Association, the Maine Education Association and unions representing state workers — heavily lobbied the two senators to support the bill.

Bruce Hodsdon, president of MSEA-SEIU Local 1989, said union members appreciated the passage of the funding bill.

“Sens. Snowe and Collins today put economic recovery ahead of a double-dip recession. They upheld our proud tradition of laying aside party politics for the good of the people of Maine,” Hodsdon said in a statement.

Gov. John Baldacci, a Democrat, also praised the senators for opposing their Republican Party leaders.

“(Their) action today will have a profound impact on Maine as our state works to recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression; it will mean better health care for our people and a stronger education system for our children,” he said in a statement.

Maine’s two-year budget faces a shortfall of about $100 million, according to the governor’s office, because budget writers anticipated federal help would come earlier and amount to more relief.

If the U.S. House of Representatives passes the measure and it is signed by the president, that shortfall would be about $23 million.

David Connerty-Marin, spokesman for the Maine Department of Education, said details are few as to how the education money can be spent — but that the relief would be appreciated, in any case.

“It is aimed solely at jobs this time,” he said.

Connerty-Marin said it’s unclear whether the funds are earmarked simply for teacher positions, or could be applied to administrators, bus drivers, janitors and others.

He also pointed out that the money would only be available for one year.

“There are a lot of questions that the U.S. Department of Education will have to answer for us,” he said, “and there are a lot of questions that the districts will have to ask themselves about how they want to use the money.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Rebekah Metzler — 620-7016
rmetzler@mainetoday.com