AUGUSTA, Maine — A bipartisan budget deal between Democrats and Republicans is on track to pass after clearing the Maine House of Representatives on Thursday, although it failed to get the two-thirds majority needed to pass it immediately.
The House approved the plan from the Legislature’s budget committee in a 80-58 vote on Thursday, with the Senate expected to approve it later in the day. Gov. Janet Mills has said she will approve the addition, which is the major item that lawmakers need to finish before adjourning for the rest of the year.
Lawmakers need two-thirds majorities in both chambers to enact the deal immediately, and enough Republicans defected to block that supermajority in an initial vote on Thursday. Among the opponents was House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, although he and other Republicans could flip back in a later vote to pass the document now.
One of the opponents, Rep. Joshua Morris, R-Turner, said it will cause Maine to “continue to export young people and people of all ages to other parts of the country” with no income taxes.
“This budget does nothing to help the people of the state of Maine in the long term,” Rep. Mark Blier, R-Buxton, added.
A bipartisan deal looked unlikely in the months since Democrats bypassed Republicans in March to pass the first part of a two-year budget totaling about $9.9 billion. Mills, a Democrat, then put forward her nearly $900 million proposed addition to use available funds, setting aside Republican tax-cut demands.
The revised addition shrunk to a net cost of just over $230 million in this fiscal year and $315 million in the next one, according to the Legislature’s fiscal office.
In late June, the Legislature’s budget committee nearly unanimously approved a compromise version. Key to the deal were various tax-related proposals, including one from Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, to increase Maine’s pension deduction in the future based on the maximum Social Security benefit after expediting an increase from $30,000 to $35,000.
These changes divided Republicans, with conservatives arguing that the party should hold out for a better deal and not bless Democratic items added to the document, including $25 million in startup costs for a paid family and medical leave program that Republicans opposed.
A bipartisan deal on spending looked unlikely in the months since Democrats bypassed Republicans in March to pass the first part of a two-year budget totaling about $9.9 billion. Mills, a Democrat, then put forward her nearly $900 million proposed addition to use available funds, setting aside Republican tax-cut demands.
Other items with bipartisan support include a child care overhaul from Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, plus another $1.5 million to build additional rural addiction recovery housing that accepts parents with their children and $31 million to offer grants to Maine-based emergency medical services.
Also in the deal are $70 million to develop additional affordable housing and $7 million for food security and homeless shelters as well as funding to prevent student homelessness and to expand a Housing First program statewide.