What started out as a rebellion against their party, which they saw straying down the wrong path to ‘economic justice,’ turned into a short-lived stand on principle on Wednesday when a half-dozen progressive Democrat representatives briefly paused the passage of a partisan budget.
On the first of two votes on the second biennial budget, six members of the state House of Representatives voiced passionate objection to what they saw as a hodge-podge tax and spending package that betrayed their beliefs and voted with Republicans in opposition to it.
“I see the harm that this party puts on working poor people in this state. I see it daily. I’m also being lobbied hard for my vote on this budget by organizations that I have an enormous amount of respect for. By the unions which also represent working poor in this state…This proposed budget is being balanced on the backs of some of Maine’s poorest residents through regressive taxation – full stop,” Rep. Nina Milliken (D-Blue Hill) said on the floor in a raw and honest speech.
“We owe it to our constituents to do better — to tax people who are super wealthy, so that the poorest people in our communities see some relief. While I understand public health intentions behind raising the cigarette tax by dollar fifty, it is risky to rely on a revenue source that we all hope will decline,” she continued.
Rep. Milliken was one of the original progressive Democrats to vote against the bill, but on the second round she would flip her vote, likely at the behest of those very ‘organizations” and party leaders keen to close the session.
Joining Rep. Milliken in the original vote against the budget were fellow Democrats Representatives Sally Cluchey (D-Bowdoinham), Cheryl Golek (D-Harpswell), Grayson Lookner (D-Portland), Rafael Macias (D-Topsham) and Sophie Warren (D-Scarborough).
After the Senate passed the budget bill, LD 210, along party lines on the first vote, the message to the House was clear: get your members in line and pass it. After a lunch break the House again took up LD 210 again, and this time the only Democrat to speak was Rep. Sophie Warren a former independent legislator who joined the Democratic party in 2021.
“I cannot support the way that the AFA (Appropriations and Financial Affairs) committee chose to fund this budget. Our budget is largely funded through regressive taxes that further burden working families,” Rep. Warren declared.
Augusta City Councilor and realtor Heather Pouliot took issue with these speeches and the apparent double standard in a Facebook post on Thursday:
“The Democrats in the Legislature are out of touch. They may have the best of intentions, but they just can’t seem to make sense with their voting, or their emotions lately. You just can’t scream and cry about taxing the poor after voting yourself to do just that.”
Shortly after the vote another final enactment vote was held and passed. The the $320 million spending bill is now on its way to Governor Janet Mills’ desk for her signature to seal the deal. It remains to be seen if she will sign the spending wish list, allow it to become law without her signature, or veto it. Given the long struggle to get to this point, the latter possibility is least likely.
Billed as the ‘Second Biennial Budget,’ LD 210 was a continued secondary spending package after the original biennial budget was passed when the legislature adjourned the first regular session in March. If the first biennial budget covered the so-called needs of government this second budget covered its wants.
Democrat leaders added increased fees and to the second biennial budget to pay for and balance its spike in spending. Some of these new taxes and fees included an additional $1.50 per pack of cigarettes, a 5.5 percent streaming tax on Netflix and Hulu subscriptions, hiking the cannabis tax to 14 percent, an increase of $0.50 per gallon of paint, a two percent on the real estate transfer tax on homes over $1 million dollars and increased fees on hunting and firearms licenses.
The House and Senate were expected to adjourn Sine Die last night having passed the biggest bill in an end to the special session. But that didn’t happen. Both chambers adjourned just before 10pm and are now slated to return to work next week when they are called in by the Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford) and Senate President Mathea Daughtry (D-Cumberland).
