The federal government’s budget runs out at the end of the month and Maine’s congressional delegation say that likely means another continuing resolution to keep government going. But as Mal Leary reports, none of Maine's members of Congress want a CR, they want a new budget.
While the House has passed budgets for several agencies, the Senate has yet to pass a single budget bill. When Congress returns to Washington next week, leaders have indicated plans to be in session for only three weeks before recessing again for the traditional election break. U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat in Maine's 1st District, serves on the House Appropriations Committee. She says the House has passed several appropriations bills, mostly along party lines but several including bipartisan agreements.
"I will be sorry if we lose some of the momentum that we had, but obviously we have to keep the government operating, again nobody wants to see another shutdown," she says. "And unless people are willing to spend a little bit more time, I don’t see how the Senate is going to get its work done."
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, blames Senate leadership for not getting any budget bills through.
"We spent more time about talking about the process for considering amendments rather than actually considering and debating amendments," she says.
Collins says her committee has completed work on several appropriations bills, but they have not been considered by the full Senate. U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud of Maine's 2nd District says the lack of Senate action makes a continuing resolution inevitable.
"There will be another CR to get through to the end of the year," Michaud says. "Here, once again, I mean the House has been passing the appropriations bills."
Michaud doubts that either chamber could complete work on the appropriations bills. U.S. Sen. Angus King, an independent, says he has heard from many lawmakers in both parties that a fundamental problem in budget negotiations has been the abolition of earmarks, through which lawmakers used to be able to designate funding for projects in their home state or district.
"This is Political Science 101 back to Pericles, of having a buy in that allows you to come together to do things like pass a budget," King says.
King says earmarks should be transparent, and limited in scope, but he believes the old system worked better than the current one, which has led only to a series continuing resolutions that simply continue past funding levels. And Collins says that ignores the dynamic nature of the economy.
"Priorities change over a years’ time," she say. "There are some programs that deserve less spending. There are some that need additional increases and there are some that should be abolished altogether.”
Pingree says she's is still hoping to salvage some of the budget numbers that had bipartisan support in the House.
"I am going to hope until the last day that we come to some agreement with the Senate and they accept at least some of the numbers we had in our areas, but there will probably not be enough money if we use a continuing resolution," she says.
King, who served as Maine’s governor for eight years, says he has long opposed the use of CRs at any level. He recalls a time when state lawmakers approached him with a proposal to pass a continuing resolution when the state budget deadline was a few days away.
"And I said 'not on your life,'" King says. "Once we start doing that in the state of Maine, we will never get a budget on time. And that is exactly what has happened in Washington. It is just too easy to punt."
King says unlike states, which often must operate within constitutional budget limitations, the federal government can simply pass a budget based on past appropriations and not on current needs. Congress is scheduled to return for its brief session on Monday.
