Next week, Democrats plan to pass a two-year budget of more than $8 billion, using their party’s majority in the state Legislature. Republicans say that would break with precedent, and that they still don’t know exactly what they’re being asked to vote on next week.
Earlier this week, Gov. Janet Mills sent a letter to legislative leaders, asking them to pass what she is calling a “no nonsense” budget to fund state government at current levels for the next two years.
Republicans say they had no warning of the move, which is aimed at pushing through a budget with a simply majority vote.
“Here we are on March 24, having been presented two days ago with a one-page document and directed that this is the budget we are going to vote on next week,” says House Republican Leader Kathleen Dillingham.
Other Republicans, including Senate GOP Leader Jeff Timberlake, blasted Democrats for abandoning a long-standing practice of developing budgets with input from both parties.
“The whole system was designed so that everyone has a seat at the table in order to collaborate, deliberate and negotiate. That is not happening now,” he says.
Timberlake acknowledged that with Democrats in control of the Blaine House and both the House and Senate, there is nothing his caucus can do to stop the process from playing out.
Later in the day, Democrats held their own news conference to defend the move, arguing that as they recover from the pandemic, Mainers want to be able to rely on stability in government services and to avoid a political stalemate that might keep the budget from being in place by July 1.
“Fund state government, fund the basics and send a signal to Maine people and Maine businesses that there is nothing they are going to have to worry about when July 4th weekend hits,” says House Speaker Ryan Fecteau.
Democrats say that once the basic budget for the next two years is in place, there will be plenty of time to argue and deliberate on funding for new programs, and how to allocate the more than $1 billion the state is getting as part of the pandemic relief act passed by Congress last month.
“There is plenty of time to fight other battles after we get this passed. There is plenty of time to look at new initiatives and new ideas in the rest of the session,” says Democratic state Sen. Cathy Breen of Falmouth, who co-chairs the Appropriations Committee.
Breen acknowledged that the committee has not taken any votes on the two-year budget they have been working on for weeks, and will need to determine what goes into the “basics” budget in the next few days in order to hold a vote next week.
Achieving bipartisan budget deals has become increasingly difficult in recent years, and one stalemate resulted in a government shutdown in 2017, when former Republican Gov. Paul LePage aligned with House Republicans to torpedo a bipartisan deal forged by the Democratic-controlled House and the Republican-controlled Senate.
More recently, Republicans fought to pass obscure tax breaks for businesses while blocking a supplemental budget bill that needed two-thirds support to pass as an emergency measure. They ultimately supported a last-minute compromise that included studying the use and efficacy of those tax breaks, as well as additional money for the state budget stabilization fund.
If Democrats use their majority next week to pass the next two-year budget, they will have to adjourn immediately for the spending plan to go into effect July 1, the beginning of the next fiscal year.
Democratic Senate President Troy Jackson said Wednesday that Gov. Janet Mills has agreed to call back lawmakers to finish their work if the four caucuses in the Legislature can’t muster the votes to do it themselves.
The most recent two-year budget passed on a party-line vote took place in 2005. Republicans passed a supplemental budget on a party line vote when they controlled the Legislature in 2012.
