WASHINGTON - Both of Maine’s U.S. representatives, Democrats Chellie Pingree and Mike Michaud, voted against the more than $1 trillion government spending bill late Thursday night. But Maine's two U.S. senators, Republican Susan Collins and independent Angus King, are supporting passage - even though they say there are sections they do not support.
The more than 1,600-page bill includes funding through next October for all areas of the federal government - except for the Department of Homeland Security - in a single measure.
Strong, bipartisan opposition to what are called riders - non-spending measures added to the budget bill - nearly derailed the whole measure in the House. Congresswoman Pingree says she objected to a provision that she says would eliminate protections against another bail-out of Wall Street financial firms, even though she helped craft the budget bill as a member of the House Appropriations Committee.
"In the end, I was really angry that they put that piece in there," Pingree says. "That was really a big give-back to Wall Street. It came after the negotiations were all done. It really undid a big piece of the protections that were in the Dodd-Frank bill."
Congressman Michaud also took issue with that part of the bill, and to one that would increase the amounts very wealthy individuals can contribute to a political party - up to $1.6 million a year. In a statement, Michaud also found fault with changes in pension protections, and the process by which those provisions were added to the spending bill.
Pingree agrees. "That’s one of the things people finds most insulting in the public, is when you know there are backroom deals and last-minute language added into a bill," she says, "and this was changing the policy."
Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who serves on the Senate Appropriates Committee, says there are parts of the bill that she doesn't like, but says its passage is needed to avoid a shutdown of the federal government. "It’s important that we fund government operations through the end of the fiscal year and avoid a government shutdown," she says.
Collins says she shares the concerns raised by the House members about the process used to add provisions to the bill. "Those provisions should not have been dropped into the bill without consideration, without full debate," she says.
Independent Sen. Angus King agrees, but says the package is better than what would have come out of the new Congress, with Republicans in control of both the House and the Senate. "First, this was a very difficult negotiation, b, the number of riders has been significantly diminished, and, c, the deal would be worse if we have to wait until next year," King says. "So that is why I’m voting yes."
The House members have gone home, and the House has completed its work. But the senators will meet into the weekend to finalize not only the budget but nominations and other bills that have already passed in the House.
