AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine lawmakers were already facing tricky decisions on what to add to an $11.3 billion budget before adjourning in June.
But President Donald Trump’s sudden move to cut $12 billion in public health grants for states, including $91 million for Maine, will put even more pressure on the Democratic-controlled Legislature as it decides over the next two months on how to spend a relatively small pot of $127 million in remaining revenue.
Lawmakers said Tuesday that Gov. Janet Mills’ proposed mix of tax hikes and health program cuts mostly remains on the table as members seek agreement on how to close a projected $450 million spending gap through 2027. Democrats are talking cautiously, while Republicans are confidently projecting that the majority party will raise taxes.
The ongoing budget challenges will make it tough to seek funding to counteract the Trump administration’s cuts that affect Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention immunization programs, disease management and other initiatives along with behavioral health services that mostly support schools and children. Attorney General Aaron Frey and leaders in 22 other Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit Tuesday to try to overturn Trump’s move.
“I don’t think we’re in a position to be talking about replacing one for one what we’re losing at a federal level,” Rep. Michael Brennan, D-Portland, a budget committee member, said in an interview Tuesday while leaving the House chamber.
He said he was “very disappointed” over Trump’s health department cutting the COVID-era grants and noted other uncertainty funding exists amid Trump vowing to pull federal funding from Maine’s education department and schools if they continue to allow transgender girls to compete in sports aligned with their gender identity.
Brennan and Sen. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, who co-chairs the budget committee, said the Democratic governor’s two-year proposal to increase Maine’s $2 cigarette tax by $1, bump up various fees and cut various child care and health programs remains on the table. Legislative committees have already voted against the child care cuts and a 70 cent tax on each prescription pharmacies fill.
Republicans feel Mills’ tax hikes will win out and are still smarting over Democrats once again passing a budget last month by a simple majority. GOP lawmakers refused to vote for the plan that fills a $118 million MaineCare gap for one year and insisted on Democrats adding in work requirements for the state’s Medicaid program, among other sticking points.
“I have no hope in this legislative session at all,” Rep. Shelley Rudnicki, R-Fairfield, a tax committee member, said Tuesday. “…It’s the same old, same old. [Democrats] are going to push their agenda, and we’re stuck.”
Asked whether the governor still wants lawmakers to pass her proposed tax hikes and cuts or whether additional changes are needed, including in response to Trump’s cuts, Mills spokesperson Ben Goodman referred to her January remarks on the budget in which Mills said “unpredictability” from Washington loomed over Maine’s tight fiscal environment and that she would not touch the state’s “rainy day” fund.
Mills had also said she would not consider “broad-based” tax increases, Goodman noted.
“The governor will continue to strongly advocate for compromise, bipartisanship, and consensus among Democrats and Republicans during forthcoming budget negotiations,” Goodman said.
Maine’s economic forecasting commission also acknowledged vast certainty Monday with Trump’s aggressive tariffs plans and his efforts to slash federal spending.
Mills will propose tweaks to her current budget proposal in the next few weeks. Finance Commissioner Kirsten Figueroa took questions from skeptical Republicans on the budget committee Tuesday. Rep. Ken Fredette of Newport, who helped turn his caucus in February on the short-term plan to bail out MaineCare, asked Figueroa about the prospects of getting two-thirds support so any spending goes out immediately rather than 90 days later.
Figueroa replied that the governor is “always looking” for a two-thirds budget, though the past several budgets she signed came with only Democratic support after the State House previously saw mostly bipartisan spending agreements.
In an interview, Rotundo said “there’s a great deal up in the air,” while Brennan highlighted how the $11.3 billion budget Democrats passed last month includes items that are “very positive for Maine citizens,” such as by maintaining the state’s obligation to fund 55 percent of K-12 education and free community college for high schoolers graduating this year.
Rotundo insisted she did not know if Mills may tweak her existing mix of proposed tax hikes and health program cuts.
“That’s a question for the governor,” Rotundo said. “We’re doing our work here because we need to figure out what we need to do to protect those services that people depend upon in health care.”
