AUGUSTA – House votes on a plan to balance the state budget were delayed for at least one day Wednesday as lawmakers worked to prepare amendments and reach a compromise on unpopular elements of the bill.
Voting is likely to begin late this afternoon, said Jim Cyr, spokesman for House Speaker Robert Nutting, R-Oakland.
Conservatives and Gov. Paul LePage object to part of the plan that would continue a tax on paid health insurance claims at the current level, rather than reducing the tax as scheduled. Also, they have said they don’t like a 1 percent across-the-board cut because it doesn’t address what they describe as overspending in the Department of Health and Human Services.
Several amendments are expected, with five posted on the Legislature’s website as of Wednesday afternoon.
Deliberations on the House floor aren’t expected until 4 p.m. because of a scheduled morning address by Maj. Gen. Bill Libby of the Department of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management. That will be followed by committee work and the late-afternoon House session.
Lawmakers are seeking to address an immediate $120 million shortfall in the DHHS budget. The plan would shift money from next fiscal year to this year, reduce funding to hospitals and Dirigo Health, and cut two MaineCare health insurance programs.
MaineToday Media State House Writer Susan M. Cover can be contacted at 620-7015 or at:
scover@mainetoday.com
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