Democrats’ version of the budget passed

See also: Baldacci signs supplemental budget; Republicans on the budget and Democrats on the budget

It’s finally over.

With 2 hours left on the clock, the Maine Senate enacted the state budget at about 10 p.m. Monday night. The supplemental budget restores MaineCare funding to those in the non-categoricals program, but cuts positions in the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability.

Both chambers approved the budget with Democrats favoring it and Republicans rejecting it.

Senate Majority Leader Elizabeth Mitchell, D-Vassalboro, said on the floor that leadership would allow in an after-deadline bill to restore the funding to OPEGA. Right now they have to pass something to avoid a curtailment order from the governor.

“It’s the timing,” Mitchell said on the Senate floor. “We’re faced with a midnight deadline, there’s just too much at stake here.”

That didn’t satisfy the Republicans. Senate Minority Leader Carol Weston, R-Montville, again criticized the Appropriations Committee for putting the OPEGA cuts in at 11:15 at night. Why is it now the issue holding up the budget?

“Now is the time to save it,” she said on the floor.

Sen. Peter Mills, R-Cornville, introduced an amendment to restore full funding to OPEGA in the budget. The first attempt to indefinitely postpone it failed when Sen. John Nutting, D-Leeds, voted with the Republicans to keep the amendment alive.

A motion to table the issue passed – barely – and a weary-eyed Nutting was whisked away by Democratic leadership. When he came back, he had changed his mind. The motion passed 18 to 17.

“I was very apprehensive over if OPEGA would be funded over the next few days,” Nutting said. “We just had a brief meeting, and I am just now comfortable that there is a firm commitment to restore positions to OPEGA and procede in the next few days to do so.”

All of the Senate Republicans voted to preserve the amendment.

“What people expect is at the mercy of backroom deals,” said Sen. Debra Plowman, R-Hampden.

Exchanges between the Senate Democrats and Republicans were sharp. Sen. Elizabeth Schneider, D-Orono, gave a forceful speech begging for a compromise.

“The people in the State of Maine don’t want to see curtailments take place,” Schneider said. “We have a responsibility to not play politics with this budget. 98 percent was unanimous out of the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee. We have a duty to stand by that.”

Mills aimed at Democratic leadership.

“The last 12 hours we have been sitting here shoving paper around…” Mills said. “(Leadership) wants to make sure every Republican vote is excluded from the process. It’s insulting to me, personally, the process we’ve seen and witnessed here. (The budget) sets a precedent and people will find a lot of difficulty to live in Maine.”

Assistant Senate Majority Leader John Martin, D-Eagle Lake, shot back.

“It’s amazing to me that you refer to a breakdown…,” Martin said, addressing the Republicans. “If you wonder why there is no two-thirds budget please don’t look at us, look at your leadership."

He again criticized Republican leadership for pulling their members out of the Appropriations Committee, and added: “I have no interest in OPEGA. I don’t care if it exists. (Agency oversight) is the responsibility of every committee.”

After the budget passed the Senate 18 to 17, it went back to the House for enactment. The House enacted the bill 84 to 55, with 12 absent.

Representatives had held similar debates earlier that day, but before the final vote leaders praised their colleagues for not being so bitter and divisive as the other chamber.

House Minority Leader Josh Tardy, R-Newport, praised his colleagues for not being as arrogant and full of self-importance as “a certain member of the other body.”

“That’s why I like to drink water from Poland Spring versus Eagle Lake,” he said snidely.

He said he was voting against the budget, thinking about all the families that would be affected.

House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, D-North Haven, praised her colleagues for keeping it a respectful and fair process with honest conversations about their differences.

“Thank you for keeping that tone,” she said. “We always work toward bipartisanship when it’s possible, and the vast majority of the work was done in a bipartisan way.”

There were no new taxes in the budget, no money was taken out of the rainy day fund. She called it the most painful budget in the six years she has served.

The arguments between Republicans and Democrats are, “about our differences, the way we see the world, our values,” she said.