Presiding Officers Issue Update on Maine’s Supplemental Budget Process

“We remain committed to doing the right thing for Maine people”

AUGUSTA, Maine – Senate President Matthea Elisabeth Larsen Daughtry, D-Cumberland, and Speaker Ryan D. Fecteau, D-Biddeford, continue to call on Republicans to stand behind a unanimous, bipartisan committee vote on the emergency supplemental budget.

“Democrats got to work on a pared-down supplemental budget that our Republican colleagues could live with. It maintains the critical health care services in every corner of Maine that all constituents depend on,” said Senate President Mattie Daughtry. “There are no new initiatives or taxes, only additional funding to prevent forest fires in Aroostook County.”

“I am proud that we offered genuine compromises to every serious Republican proposal that came our way during these negotiations. We even paused the supplemental budget debates last week during the initial supplemental budget vote to offer our colleagues across the aisle an additional proposal in direct response to Republican Senator Marianne Moore’s budget amendment. Even then, Republicans were not willing to support the budget.”

“Democrats have worked in good faith, incorporating numerous Republican proposals into the supplemental budget,” said House Speaker Ryan D. Fecteau. “The only thing we asked of them in return is that they work with us to fund MaineCare so we can pay hospitals and nursing homes, and protect Maine’s forest products industry by spraying for the spruce budworm infestation.”

“Unfortunately, our colleagues continue to demand that policies aimed at removing healthcare and housing assistance from Maine families be added to this budget. We already rejected these proposals and asked Republicans to bring new ideas forward for our consideration. At the end of this week, they informed us that they do not plan to offer anything else. They are operating with a take-it-or-leave-it attitude that will ultimately hurt hospitals and nursing homes and threaten the forest products industry. It’s very disheartening.”

The supplemental budget passed in a bipartisan, unanimous committee vote earlier this month, after weeks of negotiations. During those negotiations, Democrats agreed to four Republican proposals:

• A new structure for how the Department of Health and Human Services reports Mainecare information to the legislature in order to provide greater accountability for MaineCare costs

• Repeal of the Easy Enrollment program, an underutilized enrollment tool for CoverMe and Mainecare

• Clarifying language to make explicit gambling winnings are considered toward income eligibility for Mainecare

• Clarifying language to ensure that no MaineCare payments are processed for incarcerated individuals while they are incarcerated

The committee members also agreed to remove non-emergency items from the Governor’s proposal, to be considered in the biennial budget instead.

The supplemental budget requires a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate to ensure funds are immediately available to address a $118M MaineCare funding gap that risks the closure of nursing homes and reduction of healthcare services for 1 in 3 Maine people. On February 10, 2025, Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services took the extraordinary step of laying out plans to reduce payments should the budget fail to receive the support necessary to become immediately effective.

The next vote on the supplemental budget is expected to take place during Tuesday’s legislative session.