Legislators made quick work of passing the 2009 Emergency Supplemental Budget Tuesday while congratulating each other for the bipartisan spirit in which it was vetted.
In a special late-afternoon session Jan. 27, called to avoid a predicted snowstorm Jan. 28, several lawmakers said the abbreviated process of cutting spending in the current fiscal year to match sinking revenues was a prelude to what is expected to be a longer and more difficult debate about the next two-year budget.
“Given the time constraints, this is the best product we could have come up with,” said Rep. Sawin Millett, R-Waterford, the ranking House Republican on the Appropriations Committee, to his colleagues before the 120-22 vote.
The Appropriations Committee has spent the last month working on the measure with input from most of the Legislature’s policy committees. Legislative leaders have said from early in the process that they wanted the budget passed by the end of January so the cuts contained in it can be spread out as much as possible between now and June 30.
In all, the measure made $166 million in adjustments to the current budget, more than $140 million of it reductions.
“We’ve really not had the opportunity to think about priorities,” Millett said. “The biennial budget will be the appropriate place for all of us to roll up our sleeves.”
In the Senate, which voted 31-3 for the budget, Appropriations co-chairman Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Windham, hailed the cooperation that led to its passage.
“Overall, this process clearly demonstrated that both political parties can work together on budgetary matters in our state,” he said. “Without the work of the policy committees, this budget would not have been possible.”
Sen. Richard Rosen, R-Bucksport, also a member of the Appropriations Committee, added that he was satisfied that the cuts were achieved “in as surgical a manner as possible.”
There were some who weren’t content with the measure that included reductions across state government. Several lawmakers who voted against it identified a $27 million reduction in state funding for local schools as unpalatable.
Some decried reduced funding for hospitals, though the cuts originally proposed by Gov. John Baldacci were softened considerably.
“I don’t think it’s OK to make these cuts instead of taking steps to restructure government,” said Rep. Sarah Lewin, R-Eliot, who voted against the budget. “I’m very concerned about the continued assault on hospitals.”
Rep. Jonathan McKane, R-Newcastle, said he voted no because of the education cuts, which he called a shift of burden to property tax payers. The same level of reduced education funding is proposed for the next biennium, which McKane said he and others are prepared to fight.
Sen. David Trahan, R-Waldoboro, was one of the three Republicans in the Senate who voted against the budget. He said he felt comfortable with most of the budget, but not the cuts to education. “If the biennial budget continues to hurt the schools in my district, I’ll have to continue voting against it,” said Trahan.
Sens. Richard Nass, R-Acton, and Douglas Smith, R-Dover-Foxcroft, also voted against the budget.
On the House side, Rep. Herbert Adams, D-Portland, was one of the few Democrats who opposed the budget. With the Portland school system set to lose some $1.8 million in state funding, Adams said he couldn’t support it.
He added that he was disappointed in his party’s leadership, who he said strongly discouraged the submission of any amendments, including “blocking” one that was to be submitted at the last minute. The only amendment filed Tuesday would have provided funding to fight cancer, but Rep. Meredith Strang Burgess, R-Cumberland, withdrew it on the floor of the House with a promise to pursue the issue in the biennial budget.
“We needed a hold-harmless amendment so no community got no more than five percent of their education funding cut,” said Adams, who declined to say whose amendment was blocked. “A lot of people felt that way … but the leadership said it was too late in the process. I voted for the home team for education and investment in kids. I have no discomfort defending that.”
Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, the House majority whip, and Travis Kennedy, the majority office’s chief of staff, said they were unaware of any effort to block an amendment.
“I don’t know of anyone who was told they couldn’t introduce an amendment,” said Berry, though he said leadership agrees that “good policy is not made in last-minute floor amendments.”
Other than Adams, McKane and Lewin, the following House members voted against the budget: Susan Austin, R-Gray; Bernard Ayotte, R-Caswell; Richard Cebra, R-Naples; Kathleen Chase, R-Wells; David Cotta, R-China; Stacey Fitts, R-Pittsfield; Kenneth Fletcher, R-Winslow; Jeffery Gifford, R-Lincoln; James Hamper, R-Oxford; Charles Harlow, D-Portland; Henry Joy, R-Crystal; Brian Langley, R-Ellsworth; Stephen Lovejoy, D-Portland; Howard McFadden, R-Dennysville; Kerri Prescott, R-Topsham; Wesley Richardson, R-Warren; Michael Thibodeau, R-Winterport; Douglas Thomas, R-Ripley; and Windol Weaver, R-York.
(State House News Service)
