Typically, this is the time of year in Augusta when we see a unanimous budget reported out of the Appropriations Committee. However, House Republican priorities this year were not included in the majority report voted out of the committee in the predawn hours Saturday morning. Those priorities include the following:
— Reforming Maine’s broken, status quo welfare system.
— Providing income tax cuts for all Mainers.
— Providing funding for Maine’s nursing homes that have been underfunded for years.
— Taking care of the severely mentally, physically and developmentally disabled Mainers who have been stuck on waitlists for years.
As the final votes were taken, it was clear those priorities were not going to be a part of the finished budget, and the four House Republican members of the committee opted to vote against the majority budget and present a minority report that reflects those priorities.
But in a BDN blog post published Tuesday, Mike Tipping of the Maine People’s Alliance unfairly claims the House Republican caucus, under my leadership, is bringing state government to the brink of shutdown in order to defend tax cuts for the wealthy.
Let me be clear: House Republicans have no interest in giving tax breaks only to the wealthy. However, we are interested in giving tax breaks to all Maine people. And the majority budget doesn’t provide an income tax cut for anyone.
The majority budget also prioritizes funding for non-citizens over Maine’s most vulnerable. House Republicans simply cannot support a budget that gives welfare to non-citizens but chronically continues to underfund nursing homes filled with Mainers in need.
That’s not all. The majority budget also provides funding for methadone clinics but cuts tens of millions of dollars in funding from Gov. Paul LePage’s proposal for Maine’s severely mentally, physically and developmentally disabled who have been languishing on waitlists for years. Some of these lifelong Mainers have said they have had enough of being pushed to the back of the line. At least one family I have heard from said they are moving out of state.
These are not the priorities House Republicans stand on.
To the extent we in the House Republican caucus represent roughly 500,000 Republicans, Democrats and independents, we are demanding their priorities be included in this budget.
These are just several reasons why House Republicans have decided to take a stand. Staring down the deadline of the budget process and saying no to the misguided majority report takes courage on behalf of the “gang of 68.” Standing up for the principles and priorities of all Mainers instead of taking the easy way out shows the type of courage we seldom see in Washington or in Augusta.
I am hopeful, as we continue negotiations toward a resolution that can pass the House and Senate, we can continue to do this in a timely and responsible manner, never forgetting those half-million people we represent.
Rep. Ken Fredette is the Republican leader in the Maine House of Representatives, representing House District 25, which includes Corinna, Exeter, Newport, Plymouth, and part of Corinth. He has a master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and practices law in Newport.