AUGUSTA, Maine — Law enforcement agencies and first responders across the state are bracing for what they expect will be significant cuts in federal grants, a fear members of the state’s congressional delegation say is warranted.
“What we are hearing is that most of the federal grants will be cut by up to 40 percent,” said Col. Robert Williams, chief of the Maine State Police. “That is absolutely devastating and not just to state entities but to local communities as well.”
He said grants ranging from speed enforcement to the grants the Maine Emergency Management Agency receive for equipment and training of first responders are on the chopping block. He said public safety agencies throughout the state have used federal grants for a wide range of needs, from training on how to handle hazardous material spills to replacing equipment and supplies for specialized gear like breathing apparatus.
“The states, and not just Maine, are going potentially be in the same place they were pre-9/11,” Williams said.
Caribou Police Chief Mike Gahagan, president of the Maine Chiefs of Police Association, said the expected cuts will reduce the ability of police agencies to focus on problem areas. He said grants for speed enforcement and drunk-driving patrols have allowed police agencies to focus the additional resources without reducing other enforcement activities.
“There is training we have to do and we find the resources to pay for that training,” he said. “We do a lot of online training and there is a lot of cooperation between departments on hands on training like on using a taser and firearms practice.”
Gahagan said that since the 9/11 attacks, there has been more training recommended and in some cases required by federal agencies with such activities as dealing with suspected terrorist activity and dealing with possible hazardous chemical spills, or weapons of mass destruction.
“Both the state and federal governments want local law enforcement to do more as part of homeland security,” said Penobscot County Sheriff Glenn Ross, president of the Maine Sheriffs Association. “Some of the grants have been for that and if they cut the grants, we have no money to pay for that. The property taxpayers can only be asked to do so much.”
He said a reduction in funding by the federal government will not be picked up by most sheriffs and local police because there is no extra money available. He said there have been a lot of cooperative efforts by state and local law enforcement to make best use of the federal grants for special enforcement details like drunk driving.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee and she says the possibility of large cuts in the various public safety programs is very real.
“Unfortunately, their fears are absolutely warranted,” she said. “The current law would allow these cuts to go into effect, so they are going to go into effect unless the Congress and the president act to block them.”
Collins said she hopes Congress will act to spell out program cuts through the regular appropriations bills or through any continuing spending resolution. She said to reduce the budget deficit will mean cuts to a lot of spending programs but they should be targeted and balanced and not simply made across the board.
“We should not be making the mindless across the board cuts that are required under the sequestration language,” Collins said. She said there are many programs for law enforcement and first responders that would have to be reduced as part of reducing the deficit, but Congress should set priorities among the programs and not just “cut with a meat ax.”
Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, is also concerned Congress will allow the across-the-board cuts that would hurt a broad range of programs, and not just those that help local police and first responders.
“This has become a really critical funding area for a lot of small communities in Maine,” she said. “Firefighters, public safety people, just don’t have enough money in their local budgets anymore depend on these federal grants.”
Pingree said that since the 9/11 attacks, the federal government has asked local police and other first responders to do more toward homeland security, and the grant programs have always been there to help local agencies meet their new roles.
“It would just be wrong to take away that help to the communities,” she said.
Republicans must be thrilled about this. They want small government that is small enough to drown in a bathtub and where the people pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.
There has never been a Republican in the White House that cut spending or balanced the budget. That is just another of their lies and a promise that lasts until election.
Clinton came closest, in recent years.
What is President Obama’s plan to improve the economy?
Can you explain the Romney/Ryan plan, or do you just have faith …. making it a faith based thing, again …. that there SHOULD be one ?
This should make Landslide LePage and the tea partiers very happy. Fewer traffic and parking tickets for us all.
Spiraling down faster and faster ??
yup
Indeed! With all these cuts. good luck.. you will have a lot of angry desperate people with weapons.
Like we don’t already..
We are about to hit $16 trillion in national debt, don’t these people get the need to make budget cuts?
If, God forbid, you or someone in your family is ever in an accident or your home catches fire, tell that to the first respondres who are there of their own sense of civility and spirit of paying forward. Tell them we have a $16 trillion deficit and need to save the money they are wasting on gas an equipment. Then think about how foolish you sound. Tell it to the Repubs if they ever are in charge again.
No where in the article does it say necessary services will be cut. Pre 9/11 if your house was on fire, didn’t the fire truck come? If you were in an accident, didn’t ambulance come?Why do you make this stuff up, trying to alarm everyone?
Yes they are trying to alarm everyone, more importantly they are prepping the target for a huge tax increase!
OR HUGE CUT IN SERVICES ?
As Clint Eastwood said in front of the GOTea Party Convention;
“WE own this country” , right ?
Sen. Collins’ “mindless cuts” wouldn’t be needed if there hadn’t been mindless increases tenyears ago. Every small town cop in America doesn’t need to be trained at Quantico and Portland doesn’t need APC’s. Also, militarized police ain’t necessarily the direction of freedom.
Why don’t they need them? Would you like to be a swat team and walk right up to the front door and get shot? Use your brain for once will you!
Do you honestly believe that the boat loads of Homeland Security grant money that’ve been lavished on every cop shop in the country in the past ten years has been necessary? What did we have prior to 911 for SWAT teams? Keystone cops? I do not for one instant believe these grant reductions will harm a soul.
Oh Oh!! Same side …. internal check…. all ok, Phew!!
Good Lord. You mean we agree on something? That must be one messed up government program.
I don’t like the Patriot Act either.
Noone ever said services wouild be cut. Those first responders that show up when you call will still be there with or without equipment. That’s the way they are. Chances are they will be volunteers who do it out of the goodness of their hearts. the necessary equipment will just have to come out of your local tax dollars. Maybe you should volunteer! Then you will know what they do .
For so many years that’s how it was when I was growing up. Volunteer ambulance and fire, and even special police who were volunteers. Anyone I’d ever known who volunteered did it because it was their way of giving back and ensuring a better community no matter how great or little the municipality had to spend on paid anything. Volunteers have always gotten the job done proudly and were/are happy to do so, in the time they were/are able to donate. God bless our volunteers! :)
Just fewer Barney Fifes leafing thru the fire and police equipment catalogs, getting the same kind of arousal that I used to get as a 5-year old perusing the Sears Christmas toy catalog. I saw a lot of things in those pages that I just couldn’t live without, or that my friends had and I didn’t, but I had to come to the realization that my parents just couldn’t afford to buy me everything in the catalog — and I didn’t go panhandling to the neighbors to buy me the toys I wanted.
Firemen need to get paid too!
Or would you rather have a D or an R painted on your house?
D’s call the Fire Department, R’s call Wal-mart!
BS! Not to the first part but you political rant is BS!
Here’s a suggestion Dlbrt, learn to read ! Tell me where it says firemen won’t get paid.The rest of your rant, as usual, sounds like you shouldn’t be left alone. I suggest you seek help before these cuts are made.
Looks like you have come to expect big federal handouts as the norm.
Looks like you don’t give a rat’s butt about the safety of your family, your neighbors, or those who will be there for you when you need them most, day or night.
Mitt Romney: We don’t need more cops, firefighters or teachers – …
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…romney-we-dont-need-more…/gJ...
8 Jun 2012 – Mitt Romney: We don’t need more cops, firefighters or teachers …
What is President Obama’s plan to improve the economy?
It is not to keep counting on the mythical “job creators” to use their tax cuts to create jobs anymore.
That’s called “Tinkle down” economy.
which is really…. on our legs, and calling it rain.
What are the President’s plans to improve the economy?
There is no plan, he will attempt to bully whoever gets in his way and continue to be a socialist nut.
In three and half years the stock market has doubled – rising from 6500 to 13000. Who would have suspected that socialism would be so good for corporate profits?
Seriously though, folks like you are why Eastwood’s speech is such a perfect metaphor for the Republican party – it illustrated that the whole party is a bunch of old white guys who are mad at a figment of their own imagination.
And who got the stock market to over 14,000 the highest it’s ever been? Oh that’s right George Bush, but you can’t admit that!
Yeah, the Dow got to over 14 K under George the 2nd. And look at what he left us to clean up. And people actually wonder why George isin’t making appearances with Romney and Ryan ? This one’s a no-brainer !
… got it there, and then managed to keep it there about an hour…
By starting to detach health insurance from employment the President has laid the ground for a new wave of entrepreneurship from talented people who were stuck in a dead-end grind for fear of losing access to health care.
Yeah, Romney said that, and yet again the Mitt Nivalers take it out of context. If one cannot fight fairly, then take things out of context and post.
And what we DO need we can damn well pay for ourselves without the oversight of some pointy-headed, overpaid, underworked federal bureaucrat who couldn’t park a bicycle straight and spends his career stealing from our other pocket, skimming off half for himself and handing back the remainder in a gesture of feigned benevolence.
We don’t, whats the problem?
I guess Bangor and other towns will have to slow down on buying brand new extremely costly fire boats.
Maybe. They can always call Portland or Boston if those rusty old fuel tanks on the waterfront ever catch fire. They alone could cause more than that in damage within a matter of minutes. If one of those other large buildings on the water front, they can always let them burn on the water side. Equipment like that fireboat usually lowers insurance bills over their lifespan more than they cost.
More likely they were using up “grant” money that they didn’t need. Your examples of what it could be used for are a bit of a reach but possible. Just admit it was WASTED money.
No!
NO
Sorry, but yes.
So what beside The Military are they willing to cut?
I’m all for military cuts by the way.
Do you want economy recovery or to reduce the deficit ?
Get back us when you understand the question, because you can’t have tax cuts, an economic recovery and reduce the deficit all at once.
You do not even understand why you are still standing, why you are still breathing, and why you speak the english language do you? Don’t answer that, I will do it for you. No, I do not understand, so lets cut our military and wait at the ports for the Chinese and Russians to land.
Good then we can get taken over by Iran, China, Russia…..Just a bunch of liberal BS. I hope they do cut and then when the commies come to your door don’t complain!
The myth of a democratic socialist society funded by capitalism is
finished.
Tell O’sham-a that, he does not know it.
Yes. But all of us need to realize that $16 trillion is a huge pile of money and if we are serious about balancing the budget, cuts will have to be broad and all of us will be impacted. What needs to be recognized is that a lot of that $16 trillion has been spent on us…all of us… and now we all have to face the music, including an increase in taxes. It won’t be easy and it won’t be fun and we need a politician that has the courage to lay that all on the line. I’m still lookin’.
Yes, Thats a very big bill!
However,Cuts Collapse the Economy even further and thus so also reduce revenues, the only way out of this mess is to give up on this globalization and bring jobs and revenues back to America while increasing taxes on those who fail to invest in Americas Economy.Mitt Romney is the Posterboy for what is wrong with the American Economy!Globalization and Overseas Tax Havens are destroying us!It IS the ONLY solution!
Really? So you can sit there and tell the American public that no jobs have gone overseas under Obama? Didn’t think so!
The stimulus money actually helped GE send jobs overseas..
Yes, Debt, what a scourge, we should have thought about that “Before” we sent all the jobs to Mexico , China and Cut all the Taxes!
The GOP answer—-Let’s go broke, give everybody assault weapons, stand your ground laws and take away their healthcare / safety nets then let the “Free Market” take over!
NAFTA, Bill Clinton! Ever wonder why all the mills have closed up here. Well there’s your answer!
The gross debt total is less important than the ration of debt vs. GDP. At the end of WWII our debt-to-GDP ratio was magnitudes higher than it currently is. Had America kept public sector employment flat through the economic crash we would be looking at a less than 6% unemployment rate.
Be quiet Pingree, you don’t have a clue, and you don’t care anyway. You’re nothing but a billionaire with tons of your money invested in China.
Just like Mitt?
Smaller government means fewer resources and less responder’s. Romney must be thrilled especially after he went out and publicly labeled 1st Responder’s as ‘The Big Evil of The Left’ since this plays into his campaign. I just wonder how many people are going to need a 1st Responder between now and Election Day and think about what Romney’s platform could mean to them when their too-too is in deep doo-doo. And in Maine, interestingly enough, no where does anyone hear or see LePage supporting this nonsense. I wonder where King, Dill and Summer’s, and Dodge too, all stand in this. Time for everyone to pony up publicly since this is where there is no room for sitting on the sideline’s.
The biggest side liners are Snowe and Collins.
What is Presidnet Obama’s plan to improve the economy?
Look the better point is not what will Mitt Romney do to improve the the economy,
but just WHO will he declare war upon to do it ?
Good..cut fed taxes to the bone and let the states
handle their own issues. I would much rather
pay very little fed tax and let the state and
communities charge more to take care of themselves.
Let the people of the community decide what they want
and what they are willing to pay for services. It is always
fire and police who are used to scare people, these aren’t
going to be drastically cut. Besides, aren’t they hired and
provided for by the local and state govt?
Eliminate the middleman – the one-size-fits-all, overcharging, overbearing, and overpoliticized federal middleman.
When I was a kid, the US was the largest manufacturing giant in the world. People used to talk about then, that, California had more money than all of the Pacific Rim. How sadly we gave it all away, our manufacturing, people with absolutely no conscience drive foreign cars, this NAFTA, and the Iraq war finished the US.
NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) has nothing to do with China. Last time I heard, they were in Asia.
Uh, where did he say China had anything to do with NAFTA?
True but NAFTA was used as the model for these agreement’s with the Chinese. You use something that’s screwed up at the beginning and use it as a model, what do you expect ? Look at Cutler’s log house deal with the Chinese. They get access to our plan’s and method’s and then they are free, once the agreement expires, to go and use our own materials and technical means against us. Look at the mess that FORD and GM are in with their car plant’s. Instead of us exporting TO China we are leting the Chinese build copies of our plant’s there, and now in competition with us, all over Asia. How many times do we, as a Country, have to get bent over the sawhorse to realize that we are in the wrong position ? Oh, and by the way, where’s Romney and Ryan in all of this ? Funny but when there’s a business or trade issue to be discussed, lo and behold, they’re no where to be found. But they’re sure around when it comes to taxes and complaining about regulation’s.
Mike, very well said, we are giving our (the US) edge away.
Even with NAFTA, , the labor there, plus the ocean freight, is still cheaper than paying a living wage anywhere in North America,.
So if all the North American corporations want to go to China for the cheap labor,
how are the unemployed suppose to buy their brand name product s ?
Opps, the conservatives have failed ECO 101
But no one is supposed to respect science in their no compromise, faith based economy. Right ?
Besides in China, where are all those jobs that the ‘job creators” were supposed to create with how many years of tax cuts for the wealthy ?
what is President Obama’s plan to improve the economy?
He is wise enough not to say until at least the Democrats National Convention,
He should wait until he is re-elected and when he has a Democratic Congress to spring needed changes on you “no compromise” ,
entrenched conservatives.
So how is the Romney/Ryan economic plan any different than the GW Bush plan … (does anyone but me remember him ) … that cratered the whole capitalist system ?
So you think it’s smart to hide his ideas instead of throwing them out there??
Do you really believe that?
He had a DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS and did nothing beyond wasting 3/4 of a trillion dollars with no success.
I’ll say it again, I’m ultra liberal on social issues. And I for one am not stupid enough to worry about ROE v WADE, SETTLED LAW 3 Republican President’s have come and gone and Romney is ON RECORD acknowledging the same.
And Gay Marriage is a STATES RIGHTS ISSUE and has nothing to do with the Presidency.
I want FISCAL REASONS why I should vote for President Obama.
Are you aware that CNN among others came out the other day stating 53 percent of the jobs created under President Obama make less then 9 dollars an hour? Is that good enough for you?
I’m working with facts here. can you do the same?
What will President Obama do to improve the economy?
I’m not calling names. I’m not being mean spirited. I JUST WANT ANSWERS.
Stuttering Greg ?
It was just as silly the second time.
Discus infarction
Still no answers, or even relevant comments I see.
So you think it’s smart to hide his ideas instead of throwing them out there??
Do you really believe that?
He had a DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS and did nothing beyond wasting 3/4 of a trillion dollars with no success.
I’ll say it again, I’m ultra liberal on social issues. And I for one am not stupid enough to worry about ROE v WADE, SETTLED LAW 3 Republican President’s have come and gone and Romney is ON RECORD acknowledging the same.
And Gay Marriage is a STATES RIGHTS ISSUE and has nothing to do with the Presidency.
I want FISCAL REASONS why I should vote for President Obama.
Are you aware that CNN among others came out the other day stating 53 percent of the jobs created under President Obama make less then 9 dollars an hour? Is that good enough for you?
I’m working with facts here. can you do the same?
What will President Obama do to improve the economy?
I’m not calling names. I’m not being mean spirited. I JUST WANT ANSWERS.
I am afraid we have seen his answers Spend Spend Spend QE1 and 2 and so on
By continuing his socialist ways, and when that is satisfied, he can then begin his communist leanings.
LOL I think I was just called a Conservative! First time since 1965. i was just trying to set the record straight. I lost two jobs to the Japs, 1 to the Chinese and 1 to the Singaporians so I know where the blame lies.
I hate the format here, you made good point that belongs where it was.
I made different point building on Mike’s post and really in reply to whosit, anyway.
But if I made it in “reply” to Mike, I would left your point floating.
So it goes.
And the reply is what ? What’s needed is to improve the economy to provide for these grant’s for the respective Agency’s when the need is clearly needed. My point is that we, as a Country, go to great length’s and effort’s, and spend a ton of actual money, to develop new and better products and more efficient services and then shoot ourselves in the head, and foot, by entering into agreement’s that have us send these product’s and service’s oversea’s for short term profits while completely ignoring the long-term profitability, and derivative’s, that these same product’s and service’s bring to the U.S.. That’s one of the outcome’s of developing and protecting our economy, to be able to use it for the entire Country’s benefit, not just fatten some balance sheet.
An example of this, whether you agree or not, is the current windmill project. The blades of these are made from composite’s that were developed, and the manufacturing techniques perfected, here in Maine. Boeing has gone so far as to use these composites and techniques in the building of their new airliner that is now being bought, either as a finished plane or on time-delivery contract, as fast as Boeing can build them. Guess who’s buying them 1st ? The Japanese. And who’s running right behind them ? China. With the Japanese we have trade agreement’s to protect the trade secret’s, method’s and techniques. Supposedly we have the same with China. Given the Chinese’s history of honoring these type Agreement’s, anyone wanna guess how fast the Chinese are gonna take the 1st 777 they get apart and reverse engineer it for their own production purposes, at our expense ? These same composite’s, when 1st developed, were used in the original SCBA airtank’s. That technology has now been copied and been made so widley available that it’s worthless as intellectual property. So who benefit’s now ? Ad that’s the type outcome that impacts on the Grant’s.
You don’t have to lack a conscience to drive a foreign car. You just have to want a car that works.
American cars work very well. That is some stupid rumor, I have heard of more jap motors and trannys being replaced than American. You go with your own conscience, that is fine, but do not try to run down American cars, they are good.
“Jap”? Really? Are you posting from 1942? If so, wow!
sometimes it takes a while to determine who in here has brains and has not brains
“Right, so what I’m gonna do is, I’m gonna make a completely nonsensical response, and then if anyone says I’m not making sense, I’ll act as if the problem is really that they’re just too stupid to comprehend my wisdom.” Ah, the Internet, where debating strategy goes to die.
Maine should model its law enforcement after most of the rest of the country. State police do highway patrol and traffic, Sheriffs do urban and suburban law enforcement, and only the largest cities actually have their own police departments. Seems to work pretty well for them, and their populations are much larger than ours.
I don’t know where you got that! I have been in several states that were set up the same as Maine. Where’s the savings in that? Take it out of 1 pocket and put it in another.
It’s called consolidation of resources. In most counties in Maine both State police and Sheriff deputies are on patrol doing exactly the same thing at the same time. Use Houlton as an example, they have a local PD, a Sheriffs Dept, and a State police barracks. If the troopers hit the highways and the Sheriffs handled criminal complaints and added just a few more people, the 2 departments could handle all of Aroostook county. Right now Houlton taxpayers pay for municipal and county police thru property taxes and troopers through State taxes. It would be streamlined and cheaper for all to drop the local PD. Distasteful and unpopular initially, but cheaper in the long run. That’s one example but you could apply it to most county seats in Maine. As for smaller PD’s many don’t offer 24 hour coverage anyway. I have seen it work in several states in the south and west. Having 3 departments on the road all doing the same thing is redundant and a waste of money. Many schools are consolidating and are finding it less expensive without loss of quality. I think Law Enforcement can do it too. Some counties are using “call sharing” now. That’s a coordination between the State police and Sheriff to split the county into sections and have one or the other responsible for their own section, but most counties don’t participate. It works and is cheaper.
In fairness, this is done in a lot of places that are geographically very different from Maine. In a lot of southern states, for instance, the sheriff’s department does a lot of primary enforcement for small towns as you describe – but the states are much smaller and the counties are tiny, more like what we think of as townships here.
Throwing money we don’t have at problems it can’t help is akin to the money that has been wasted on public schools. We keep trying to reform a problem instead of preventing it in the first place. And that starts at home, where half of all fathers walk out on the people depending upon them.
Wonderfull news!!!! It’s high time these people had to go before the town meeting and be accountable for EVERY penny they spend. If everything they do is so valuable and necessary, the townsfolk will be HAPPY to tax themselves to support their services. Local taxpayers always know best.
Have you ever attended a town meeting?
Yep, probably several before you were even born — and there is nothing more quintessentially American than the townsfolk deciding how to spend THEIR OWN MONEY.
Then I guess you must be pushing 80 unless you went on your mama’s knee.
But the grant money is not THEIR OWN MONEY as you say. It is used to purchase items needed and takes the responsibility of funding needed equipment and training off the backs of the property tax payers. I recently helped my volunteer department win a grant to replace our aging Self Contained Breathing Apparatus that is required is you go into a hazardous conditions. That is $20,000 the property tax payers do not have to come up with. I take it you have absolutely no knowledge of what it takes in emergency services, the training required and the federally mandates that come along with it.
Where do you think that money comes from? Do you think it’s just monopoly money? It’s federal TAX MONEY.
So what you are both saying is you would just as soon not accept any federal grant money or subsidies, especially for the people that risk their lives just to save yours. Are either one of you involved in emergency services, I think not or you would know just how tough it is to get new equipment and how hard these people work to keep the amount needed down. I’m all for cuts at the federal level that make a difference, this cut is nothing more than for show where the politicians can say, see we are cutting costs.
by the way the grant I helped get was not federal or any kind of tax dollars but from a private foundation that is not publicly funded.
Then that’s not even what the article is talking about!! If you want tax dollars, be honest and put it in your budget.
Of course the really big question has not been answered. Are we seeing the whole story or just what the media wants us to see?
No, really? How intelligent you are, where did you come up with that, during a drug induced party?
Except that tax payers are still paying for it. The local contribution is less but people in California are contributing to your equipment. Why should they be forced to subsidize a fire department in Maine and why should we be forced to subsidize a fire department in Texas? If local communities want something then the local communities should pay for it and not be given welfare from the federal government.
Maybe they will have to concentrate on crimes that actually have victims.
Just out of curiosity, How much of these cuts are happening because the Obama “stimulus” money stopped flowing? If that is the case then these aren’t really “cuts” to begin with.
They are happening because the Repubs demanded them in the last budget battle. Just showing that they care more about money than people’s lives.
Except that they are really only cuts because the Obama stimulus ended and was not renewed.
Democratic definition of budget cut: Any time, for what ever reason, we don’t get more tax dollars than we planned for, including a decrease in projected growth.
Where’s the tree you pick your money from? Or at least do you have any seeds for sale?
Do you have any evidence to support your claim that lives were saved as a result of this spending or just rhetoric. The fire trucks will still come, the police will still come but they won’t be able to buy anymore 186K fireboats to park in the Penobscot
How about the latest equipment of the ambulances? Most heart attack victims who can be saved are saved before they reach the E.R.s now. Who do you think pays for that gear. How about the equipment that volunteer firemen use to make their jobs safer? Do you want to deny them ? You know, most of them have families they would like to go home to. That equipment isn’t cheap, but it makes their job a lot safer and more efficient.
What is President Obama’s plan to improve the economy?
You have a computer, so you can use Google ?
Why not ?
And we are spending millions training the next generation of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. And Billions destroying and rebuilding the infrastructure in Iraq. Both wars unfunded and brought to you by Bush and Chaney. While we bad mouth our teachers, firefighters, and cops.
Right on, very good comment, true true, half or more than half of our US problems today, the US large Debt can be layed at GOP’s door, and they want to get elected to solve our problems.
Excuse me, but I think Obama and Biden took over in January 2009. So 3 years and 7 months later what do we have? Not only that but read all the coverage carefully about our withdrawal from Iraq. It looks to me like we would still be there if Iraq had agreed to the terms we wanted.
By the time the Iraq-Afganistan fiasco of Dubya is paid for (2020) along with the Bush tax cuts, the cost will be $20 Trillion! Did you expect any President to clean that mess up in 4 years? Remember “The weapons of mass destruction? If we elect another Trust Fund Baby, that cost will go up. Look at history. The Repubs just keep saying “Forget about Bush.” Too bad his garbage is still around.
You people that parrot party propaganda (on both sides) are delusional. Neither of these two presidential candidates deserves a single vote.
That wasn’t party propaganda. That was fact! I agree about the candidates, but we don’t have much to choose from. All I know is that it wasn’t too long ago that we all enjoyed a decent standard of living and when Bush got done with us, most of the middle class was in survival mode. We have to work together for the benefit of all and that doesn’t include lining the pockets of the rich. Class warfare does exist. Here and around the world.
It goes back much further and neither party looked out for our needs. I’ll never forget a job interview in the early 70’s where they were bragging about the money they saved with their new subassembly plant in Mexico. They were already doing wire harnesses and soon would be doing the printed circuit boards. Then in the later 70’s at a better job I had concerns about all these semiconductors with American names that were being manufactured offshore. People told me I was ignorant and didn’t understand global economics. That sort of thing. So it doesn’t make much difference it it’s tricky dick or jimmy in the white house, does it? What you experienced during Bush years was just the chickens coming back home to roost. It’s been almost 30 years since I gave any time or money to political parties or candidates. No bumper stickers on my car and no signs in my yard. I won’t advocate revolution because they have some big guns and tanks.
I hear you! Iwas working in a GM plant in the 70s when they tried to open a plant in Mexico. it failed. I was there when they started the joint Toyota-Chevrolet project and called it the Malibu. We called it the Toylet. Roger Smith, the then CEO said in a national statement, “If you can’t beat em, join em”. The epitome though was when the Manager of a small business doing work for the government said,” They can’t tell the difference between parts made here and ones made in China.”
I was working for GM when OPEC hit us with their oil embargo. I had 7 months seniority so I was one of the first to get laid off. The outlook was too grim to hang around and hope for a recall to work. The bailout of the auto companies really annoyed me because the government could have imposed some conditions about the percentage of foreign parts in that deal. A parts manger for a large Chevy dealer out west was telling me he has to deal with GM call centers that are in the Phillipines. And I’m talking about the post-bailout GM. This is our tax dollars at work for us.
Well, obviously. It’s been a settled fact for as long as I can remember that anyone who wants to be president is automatically, by definition, unfit for the office.
On the other hand, practically speaking we only get two options, and basically what the call boils down to for me is, “Which of these clowns is less likely to get me killed?” For all the Democrats’ faults, I find the Republicans tend to come second in that little theoretical exercise.
They say you should vote for the lesser of the two evils. This time it looks like the devil brothers are running against each other. It seems to get worse every time. People who actually believe in these political parties scare me.
I mean it’s like you’re one of those talking dolls. Somebody pulls that string and you say these things but it’s the same things over and over again. And they made so many of you. I don’t care if it’s a tea party doll or a libber doll. It’s just a bunch of noise. It’s rare that I get to sit down with people who can see beyond all that and have an intelligent discussion. The hope and change we need isn’t coming from these 2 political parties and their hacks.
What is President Obama’s plan to improve the economy?
Not being repetitive… so not the just the same old failed Bush plan, again ?
Start by putting the tax rate back where it was for the rich. What is Mittens Plan? Be careful! It changes with who he is trying to impress.
The point being there really is none.
Nooo, “Point being” you cannot answer my question.
I’m not advocating for Romney I’m simply asking a question.
What will President Obama do to improve the economy.
Stuttering again ?
Nooo, “Point being” you cannot answer my question.
I’m not advocating for Romney I’m simply asking a question.
What will President Obama do to improve the economy.
Do I really have to keep repeating myself?
By all means, dump the Bush tax cuts. 80 billion a year, WHAT THEN?
You can’t believe that doing that alone will have an impact on the economy?.
What is President Obama’s plan ti improve the economy?
Huh, don’t you want pay down the deficit ?
Where are all the jobs the “job creators” were supposed to created ?
What good have the BUSH tax cuts for the wealthy done, yet ?
Forty billion on capital improvement is good idea in America.
Unless you think someone might buy us out and restructure the nation.
Is the latter the Romney/Ryan/ Bain Capital businessman’s plan ?
That is still only half of your $80 Bil, so it is still S40 billion to pay down the national debt, too.
How GOTea of me.
ROTFLOL.
750 billion didn’t do a thing and you’re actually telling me that 80 billion dollars is going to be the difference?
Now it’s my turn to… ROTFLMFAO
What is President Obama’s “SECRET” plan to improve the economy?
Reminds me of an episode of “West Wing”
“The president has a secret plan”
Do I really have to keep repeating myself?
By all means, dump the Bush tax cuts. 80 billion a year, WHAT THEN?
You can’t believe that doing that alone will have an impact on the economy?.
What is President Obama’s plan ti improve the economy?
Do I really have to keep repeating myself?
By all means, dump the Bush tax cuts. 80 billion a year, WHAT THEN?
You can’t believe that doing that alone will have an impact on the economy?.
What is President Obama’s plan ti improve the economy?
“So 3 years and 7 months later what do we have?”
GW Bush’s wet deck ?
Why didn’t he win all the war that he started,
or even get OBL ?
THEN the international capitalist system crashed on his watch, too.
All that explains why he not in Tampa, right ?
Unless all Americans forget Bush ever lived, Mitt Romney can’t win.
I’ve never posted anything indicating that I like Bush or Romney. You’re the one with the problem here. I shouldn’t have needed to point out the obvious in the first place. Mister peace prize winner did a troop “surge” in Afghanistan and committed some of our military might to overthrowing a dictator in Libya. He sent a team into Pakistan without their permission to execute OBL. By the way, the book about that says OBL was not armed when he was killed. I guess that’s one way to avoid expanding operations at the evil gitmo prison. But don’t worry and keep believing whatever makes you feel good. Ice cream for everybody now and later we all die. Enjoy!
That’s why they are called “GRANTS” . They don’t happen every year “supposedly” and to come to depend on them for day to day operations,isn’t in the the best interest of anyone. Plan a REAL budget and then stick to it . Then grants will be a bonus not a necessity.
we have to support other countrys first , right?
That’s part of the problem. The other is that if you run up bills, you got to pay them.
face in the trough for too long. The reason the cuts are there was because of the congressional “not in my backyard” mentality that’s made this country accustomed to Big Daddy Fed paying for that which it can’t sustain. They couldn’t come to an balanced budget agreement so now all will have to pay. Even the Pentagon, long the worst of pork barrel politics will have to put up $400 billion in cuts.
We can return to pre 9/11 security and awareness, believe it or not. The world did not end on 9/11. The knee jerk reaction and rush to arbitrarily spend whatever it cost to keep our ordinary, everyday lives safe from terrorism, was, and is absurd. Drunk drivers and speeders are a whole different kind of terrorists than those Jihad fellas. BTW, speeders and such are revenue flow, but the reasons for chasing them is always masked as safety… uh huh.
Every time the gov’t goes on a budget cutting binge, they always take away the funding for the things that they know will get everyone riled up. It’s always about cutting education, human services, and infrastructure repair. Why? Because they know they can get it right back on the books just a little while down the road. It’s also great election time material. Candidates can tell ya how they’ll get it all back for ya, without cutting ANYTHING- except taxes…hmmm.
The cronies can’t go slashing their handouts to the special interest/pork barrel projects because they are unlikely to get funding back for silly, unnessessary things- like clown museums, migratory bird studies, and congressional pay raises. Jeez, cut money out of this stupid sh*t and there’d be plenty to go ’round.
Enough is enough. Taxpayers can not continue to fund everyone petty little project. These cuts had to come as a result of votes sending money to other areas and to cut the deficit. The money projected for Obamacare is the first to come to mind. This is another scare story intended to excite those with little or no understanding of how economics work just to scare people. Austerity is the new name to be getting used to.
If you think you cannot do without something you can always enter an article in your local town meeting agenda if you haven’t already lost that right to do so. That way people will see you stand up publicly in order to show them personally just who is in favor of taxing them out of their homes.
How much do you pay for health insurance? Watch it go out of sight without Obamacare!
I have watched government involvement in healthcare for 20 years. Each time some politician comes up with some idea to make it cheaper I need to hide my wallet.
It’s just PORK! Law enforcement wastes way too much money. It’s about time the gravy train went dry. They might have to focus their resources on actual crimes and not babysitting everybody to see if they are drinking or taking drugs or german road blocks.
yeah
Our fire departments, police and ambulance service worked fine before 9-11. Since then the government has stepped in and mandated huge changes in these services to upgrade all depts to a red alert level to handle terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, and chemical warfare. It’s becoming financially obvious that we cannot afford to stay on high alert, with all the tools, forever, that is, if we are more concerned about money. It’s crunch time. Weight your options.
Reduction in speed patrols on I95 are welcome. This is an absolutely pure revenue generating machine for State Government. We have an interstate that is practically empty and overly enforced by State Troopers. I should know – I travel 45K+ miles a year and cannot believe the amount of resources dedicated toward nabbing speeders.
Having our State Troopers outfitted in Ford Mustang GTs with upward of 415HP+ and racing stripes in an effort to be “incognito” seems more like law enforcement out joyriding and wasting tax dollars on their own “toys”.
In a largely rural state like Maine, many EMS providers and firefighters volunteer their time and talents. This is not a job for them, it’s a calling. There are significant educational responsibilites for both firefighters and EMS personnel. I can only speak for EMS, where these requirements include up front course and testing prerequisites as well as continuing credit units that are required for re-licensing. These are expensive. Many volunteers are living hand-to-mouth (as do many of Maine’s working poor) and yet they still respond to emergency 911 calls in the middle of the night in the dead of winter. The do this not to feed off the belly of Maine’s pork, but because they want to serve their communities and “pay it forward.” Many of them simply cannot afford the cost of mandatory trainings. Do the naysayers out there want the 911 calls to go unanswered? Please think very hard before you sling mud at hard-working volunteers doing dangerous work.
Unfortunately what it just might take for people to wake up to the fact that the politics infecting both Congress and the State of cut, cut, cut… is a few unnecessary deaths… a few horror stories of 911 calls going unanswered… a few houses burning to the ground before responders can get there…
Maybe, just maybe, the current hatred of government will become tempered with some sane reasoning that, gee, maybe government and tax revenue is not such a bad thing and actually does some good in this world…
I’m all for dumping the Bush tax cuts. That 80 billion a year MIGHT pay the interest on our debt to China.
WHAT THEN?
What is President Obama’s plan to improve the economy?
And now the end is near and so I face the final curten. O yes I did it my way!!!!!!!!!
What a hypocrite Susan Collins is.
Hey Susan, it’s YOUR party that’s demanding all these cuts be made.
Let’s not raise taxes on the very rich.
Let’s not require that corporations pay taxes.
Instead, let’s cut emergency services.
Susan Collins and the Republican/Tea Party…..
This is what they’ll get ya…….
“We should not be making the mindless across the board cuts that are required under the sequestration language…”
We can thank a republican led Congress for the “mindless” part of this statement…
But given so much of the post-911 security buildup was based on manufactured boogey-men supposed out to turn us all into Muslims it might actually be a good thing to dial back the paranoia, the security state hyperbole, and such things as tasering or pepper spraying high schoolers engaged in a fight (happened in a school I know), or college students peacefully protesting and dissenting current policies they had every right to protest and dissent from… operative word here “had…”
It’s about time. Militarization of the police has gone on for too long. We did just fine long before they used 911 as an excuse to spend money and trample on our rights.
These are the types of programs that Congress is cutting in it’s hubris and arrogance. The Senate and the House of Representatives should be ashamed of themselves – BOTH sides of the aisle. Both Democrats and Republicans! What happened to the understanding after September 11th that police and first responders are vital to the health and safety of all Americans?! Instead, Congress is too self-absorbed in re-electing itself and has forgotten that government employees, including elected officials, are just that: EMPLOYEES that are supposed to work for US, not well-heeled lobbyists representing the monied priviledged…
If we don’t make cuts now, when we “only” have $16 Trillion in Federal debit, with interest rates at all time lows, never mind state, municipal, etc, what position do you think we will be in when we hit $20 Trillion and 1980’s interest rates??? I am not advocating cutting critical services, however – federal grant $$ is not free, if you don’t have enough $$ in your personal check book you make the hard choices at home and discover another way to get things done, we have had to do in our house hold and at our business, it is high time State, County, and Federal agencies did the same, think I am wrong – look at Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy, why are we any different? The economic rules don’t discriminate based on lines lines on a map.
The recipients of grants add that to the budget for the following year and then can’t figure out why their short?
We ARE different from Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy because we have our own sovereign currency and a very large economy that can absorb the debt that is being carried.
The so -called “debt crisis” is BS. Pure, unadulterated BS. Millions of people are still out of work because the republicans prevented a large enough stimulus from passing, a stimulus that put people back to work and not just cut taxes here and there… That method of stimulus is very, very inefficient… the lessons of the Great Depression applied to our great recession but republicans, and people that were too ignorant of the history of the Depression prevented the admin from do what needed to be done. And then there was plenty of bad policy on the part of the admin… but, again, the so-called debt crisis is BS…
Economic policies that worked in the 30’s would have worked in our financial crisis, and then as the economy grows the debt can be paid down… We are NOT Greece, or Spain, or Portugal. It is wrong to compare us to them. We have our own currency and a very, very large economy that parts of which are going gangbusters… The parts that would put ordinary people back to work… no, but the financial sector, the gas and oil sector… going like gangbusters…
It has been POLITICS, pure and simple that has left so many people out of work and struggling still.
Gravy train is not going to last forever. Federal money gets Bangor that fireboat, did they really need it? Lets be honest it was federal money. Boat should last 100 years as often as it will get used for real. Federal money so lets get it. Every major crime in the state now has a large RV unit command post on wheels arrive. Federal money, did they need them? how did they cope before? The federal money comes the borrowoing, increasing the deficit which keeps growing. We need to stop being a give me give me mentality and start sucking up some serious budget cutting.
And not ONE of the politicians talks about the $2.2 million spent every minute in Iraq and Afghanistan…..$2.2 million a minute…According to the American Friends (Quakers) Service Committee…60% of the federal budget goes to the military;6% to health and human services; 2% to agriculture; 1.5% to justice’ 1% to transportation………….$2.2 million every minute of every day to kill more people and create more enemies.
If spending money in the wars overseas creates enemies. Why doesn’t money spent on drug programs create more druggies. Or money spent on welfare more welfare recipients?
I keep asking and no one has an answer.
I’m all for dumping the Bush tax cuts. That’s a paultry 70-80 billion a year. No affect on the debt whatsoever. beyond that….
What is President Obama’s plan to improve the economy?
What’s yours? Start by getting your record player fixed, it’s skipping something awful.
Sooo,,, You have no idea and nothing of value to add to a conversation.
Did I say anything negative about The President? Did I call him any names??
NO
I simply asked a question that you don’t appear able to answer.
Better to stay silent and let them wonder if you’re a fool then to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
Looks like the only thing rewarded here is cowardice and lack of knowledge.. Someone gave you a thumbs up for not knowing anything..
GOOD JOB!!
I’ll keep asking the question as many times as I wish.
NO ONE appears to have any idea what the President’s plant to improve the economy is. If so, please let me know.
You do realize how many various Bills were blocked by the Republicans do you not?
*Jobs Act Bill-blocked
*Tax on Companies who ship jobs overseas- blocked
*Small Business Jobs Act-blocked
*American Recovery and Investment Act-blocked
*Affordable Heath Care for Americans- attempted to block 33 times
*Wall Street Reform Act- blocked
*Fair Pay Act- blocked
*Anti-Rape Amendment-blocked
*Benefits for Homeless Veterans- blocked
*Unemployment Extension Act-blocked
* Immigration Reform- blocked
And the list goes on and on….Exactly WHAT have the Republicans done to improve our economy and unemployment in this country?? Aside from B*tching and moaning about birth control, abortion, same sex marriage and voter ID……I don’t believe you or anyone for that matter would be able to provide any supportive FACTS that the GOP actually attempted to legislate ANY economic/stimulus/unemployment bill within the last 2 years…they blocked them all. The GOP’s record, or lack thereof, speaks for itself.
““The states, and not just Maine, are going potentially be in the same place they were pre-9/11,” Williams said.
So… not overreacting to every discarded paper bag and unattended suitcase, not living in fear of shadowy figures who are Out To Get America, not assuming everyone’s up to something until they’ve gone to great personal trouble and expense to prove otherwise, not spending money hand over fist for fire department hovercraft… that kind of thing? Doesn’t sound so bad.
Thank you. Finally someone that doesn’t go though life like a coward.
WE cannot keep taking stimulus money or grant money and hiring more people and buying more things and then not understand why we haven’t got enough to pay those new hires and pay for more new things the next year when we don’t receive extra money.
It’s not brain surgery people. But then for some reason half of the country can’t figure out how to balance a checkbook. Nothing drives me nuts more. Oh look, I have 800.00 in my account.. I spent 237.00 that leaves me 563.00 Oh look I received 20.00 That gives me 583.00. Are people really that stupid?
The economics that a government uses is nothing like personal finance… learn some economics. Simplistic explanations prove nothing… THAT is what is driving you nuts…
Good ole O’Sham-a. His policies continue to do harm.
The Republicans should look at the upside of their doing. As first responders are put out of work they can blame it on the Dems. All you less government folks, be careful what you wish for you just may get it. I guess the other silver lining in the cloud is (or is it lead) now we all get to strap on our .357’s and 9mm’s and serve justice the way it was meant to be and return to the wild west, see ya at the OK corral, at high noon.
Interesting to see Caribou’s police cheif whine about the grant cuts. 25 years ago Caribou had two cars plus one in reserve, and fewer officers, they now have three cars, and SUV, a pickup, two Polaris Rangers, Two snowmobiles and Two ATV’s. and a Harley Davidson motorcycle. Plus the M-16’s and other weaponry they have aquired. I’m surprised they don’t have an armored personel carrier. All this to enforce the laws on a town that has about 1/2 the people in it than it did when Loring AFB was here, not to mention the majority of people in this area are over 50.
The grants are just a cash cow to feed an ever increasing militarized police force that the citizens of Caribou can no longer afford.
Can you say DRUG BELL and the ZEKES?
Told you I was from Caribou.
Wonder if this will affect those new police cruiser purchases so many were counting on? Guess the Crown Vics might stay in service a little longer in some places.
With the cost of everything rising, and the increased number of drug dealers, meth labs and people breaking into homes for drugs and money, this is the LAST department budget cuts that should be made.
I don’t like cuts to first responders at all. However, how bout cutting back on the Border Patrol and the extreme high wages for the customs and immigration workers sitting at the borders. While were at it, why build 60 million dollar border stations at each crossing. There are 15 jail cells along in the new Van Buren facility. Enough to lock up the remaining Aroostook County people.. Fund State and local.
Why don’t we just reallocate appropriately. 60 million plus for a border station in Van Buren Maine… and that is only one border station.. They built one just down the road in Hamlin for 15 million. Take that money and pay first responders.
Everyone is all for cutting budgets and paying down the debt, as long as it comes out of SOMEONE ELSE’S pocket. I doubt that we will see a marked increase in speeding or drunk driving if these funds are cut.
Don’t worry. AIG, Morgan Stanley, and Bain Capitol will “trickle down ” on them.
funding for police and first responders should be the responsibility of the town and/or the state.
All the crap I hear about the Bush tax cuts were for the rich is a crock. When the rubber met the road The D’s were complaining the expiration of the cuts would hurt the middle class as well
I know I enjoyed a 300 dollar a month raise under the cuts. So the rich point was just a BS talking point
it is all ready happening. you dont see as many cops patrolling the highways . more murders more serious crimes especially drugs burgalaries
When is the last time you ever heard of a police officer stopping a serious crime in progress???
I’m sorry but police officers fill out the paper work AFTER something has happened, plus they are the glorified tax collectors (fines)for the state.
Look i’m from Caribou. YOU profess to live in Northern Maine. You can’t really speak to what happens in an area populated by more then 12 people per square mile
Lived here most of my life, so I am well aware of the crooked CPD. So please show me a news article from anywhere that tells the heroic story of a law enforcement officer from any of the thousands of communities across the country stopping a violent crime in progress. You won’t find many. There are approx. 800,000 officers employeed in the US, with that many we shouldn’t have any crime.
The state and fed lawmakers are the first to shout no money cut this and cut that not once in the last year have i heard them say cut our perks and benefits like most of the people that work out have seen over the last few years.Pay raises to $17.00 per hr.for state workers unheard of at wally world or some of the other middle class jobs.Our lawmakers have the best partime job there is.Their companies or relaitives are brought in under the radar and paid big bucks,and then they look at ems and health care and say cut,cut,cut and cut some more but not once do you see them bite the bullet like the rest of the people.Ihope the people can sort this out at election time.