He said, she said over Appropriations’ conclusion

There was an interesting exchange between Sen. John Martin, D-Eagle Lake, and Sen. Carol Weston, R-Montville, over what happened late Wednesday night when the Appropriations Committee could not agree on the final details of the budget.

On the Senate floor late Thursday night, several including Sen. Peter Mills, R-Skowhegan, and Sen. Lisa Marrache, D-Waterville, said if the Appropriations Committee taken a bit more time, they could have reached a compromise.

The issue was over MaineCare funding for noncategoricals – adults with no children. Democrats refused to eliminate funding from this program, where Republicans thought otherwise. It was clear there would be two reports out of Appropriations.

Martin said that after it was clear no agreement would be reached and Republican leadership pulled its members from the committee and told them to go home, therefore the Democrats couldn’t continue to work toward a bipartisan report. Only Sen. Karl Turner, R-Cumberland, stayed.

Weston, however, said no one was ordered to leave. She said the Republicans finished their report and were told it would be hours before the Democrats finished theirs. There was no reason for them to stick around.