AUGUSTA, Maine — Two weeks ago, Democratic lawmakers held off on giving final approval to a short-term budget that fills a $118 million MaineCare funding gap because Republicans refused to give it the support needed for the plan to take effect immediately.
That was for naught.
The Maine House of Representatives on Tuesday passed the budget along party lines in a 75-68 vote. It awaits likely approval in the Senate next week. The short-term plan, which will take at least 90 more days to become law because it was passed by a simple majority, also provides $2 million to fight spruce budworm infestations in Maine forests.
The protracted series of votes came 14 days after the parties signaled that they may try to find a deal that would win two-thirds support so MaineCare payments to hospitals and health care providers could go out immediately rather than 90 days later.
Instead, the supplemental budget process that is separate from ongoing work on Gov. Janet Mills’ two-year budget proposal resulted in more finger-pointing and in Democrats passing another spending plan over Republican opposition.
“I am extremely disheartened that so many of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle chose not to support the people of Maine,” Rep. Drew Gattine, D-Westbrook, a top appropriator, said in a statement earlier in the day.
The Legislature’s budget committee, including three Republican appropriators who were present, initially passed the short-term deal in early February. However, the minority party quickly turned on that deal after Rep. Ken Fredette, R-Newport, who was absent for the budget panel meeting, expressed opposition.
Key sticking points included an annual three-month limit on General Assistance per recipient that Mills initially included before Democratic members stripped it. Republicans wanted that back in the short-term plan, but Mills said it could come back up during two-year budget talks.
Republicans also proposed implementing work requirements for MaineCare recipients who do not have children, a virtual non-starter for Democrats but an issue President Donald Trump may revive at the federal level after former Gov. Paul LePage sought such requirements.
“We’re asking for one simple thing: a small amount of fiscal responsibility,” House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, said.
Legislative leaders traded barbs over the weekend in statements that made it clear no bipartisan breakthrough was coming Tuesday. House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, said Republicans were “operating with a take it or leave it attitude that will ultimately hurt hospitals and nursing homes and threaten the forest products industry.” Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart, R-Presque Isle, accused Democrats of operating in “bad faith and dishonesty.”
More than 400,000 Mainers use the state’s Medicaid program that saw its $118 million funding gap come as the result of increasing enrollment, greater use since the COVID-19 pandemic and other cost increases due to workforce and inflationary challenges, per the Mills administration.
The Office of MaineCare Services told providers earlier this month it would temporarily withhold payments starting in March if the supplemental budget did not take effect immediately. The state’s health department said it would seek to minimize pain for providers in the meantime by capping and delaying certain payments.
Other states are facing similar Medicaid funding issues. Amid the supplemental budget negotiations, lawmakers have held numerous hearings on Mills’ $11.6 billion plan to fund the state through 2027, when a new governor will be in office.
The governor has already received pushback from the left and right for proposing a mix of tax increases and cuts to health programs to balance the two-year budget in the face of a $450 million shortfall. The Legislature is aiming to pass that plan and adjourn by mid-June.
BDN writer Michael Shepherd contributed to this report.
