AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - As the June 30 deadline approaches, the top lawmakers in the Maine House and Senate remain as far apart as ever over the $6.6 billion state budget, blaming each other Wednesday for a breakdown in negotiations and sparring over a path forward.
Legislative leaders have been meeting for days behind closed doors and were nearing a deal that includes income tax cuts sought by House Republicans and Gov. Paul LePage, they said. But negotiations hit an impasse Wednesday, with Democrats pledging to move forward with a budget plan that House Republican Leader Ken Fredette said his caucus will defeat.
“We’re going to keep working with the president of the Senate and we want to make sure that we get a budget done,” said Senate Democratic Leader Justin Alfond. “But when the governor and Rep. Fredette seem like their only goal is to force our state to shut down, we’ve got to change course and that’s what we’re doing today.”
Alfond initially said around noon on Wednesday that Democrats were breaking off negotiations with House Republicans because they keep issuing new demands.
But later Wednesday afternoon, all four legislative leaders met and Democratic House Speaker Mark Eves said that several sticking points remain.
Fredette said Democrats are misrepresenting the facts and criticized them for trying to lay the blame of a potential government shutdown at his feet. His caucus has remained firm that a final budget must include their priorities of lower taxes, less spending and more limited welfare.
“Those are things that we believe we got elected on and if we are not willing to stand up for those principles now, then when do we stand up for those principles?”
A spending plan must be in place by June 30.
LePage has floated the idea of a passing a temporary budget that maintains spending at current levels and keeps government open so that legislative leaders can continue negotiating into July. But Attorney General Janet Mills has said that a continuing resolution is not an option because Maine law requires a biennial budget.
Before negotiations broke down Wednesday, the two sides had been close to striking a deal that would keep the sales tax at 5.5 percent and expand it to cover more services to pay for a small income tax cut, Alfond said.
One of the biggest sticking points remains how to distribute the income tax cut, Eves said. Democrats aren’t interested in slashing taxes for the highest earners and want most of the relief to go to the middle class.
Republican Senate President Mike Thibodeau stressed that time is running out. Eves has said lawmakers need to send a budget bill to LePage by June 18 to ensure they have enough time to overturn his veto if he rejects it.
“We have an opportunity and a responsibility and that window of opportunity and responsibility is closing fast,” Thibodeau said. “We don’t have days and days to do this before we get ourselves in a situation where we don’t have a budget and people aren’t going to work.”
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