Editorials

On the evening of June 6, 1944, as news of the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe was sweeping around the world, President Franklin Roosevelt addressed the American people on the radio. His powerful message was that the military action known as D-Day was not an invasion of conquest but “a mighty endeavor to set free a suffering humanity.”

Now that the 126th Legislature has officially come to a close, I can say with certainty that my 12 years in Augusta have been about helping Mainers and fighting for working people. Despite continuous opposition from Governor LePage, lawmakers were able to come together this session and pass a bipartisan budget, approve $50 million in bonds, and keep our funding promises to cities and towns to help prevent property tax increases. In the face of repeated adversity, we triumphed.
This year, we were able to create a responsible, bipartisan budget that champions all Mainers not just a select few. With overwhelming support in the House and a unanimous vote in the Senate, both Democrats and Republicans approved a budget that benefits students, the elderly, our communities, and working families.
Our budget restores funding to programs Gov. LePage wanted to cut, including our universities and community colleges, K-12 education, and Head Start. Our budget increases funding by $26 million for Maine’s nursing homes, allowing our elderly population access to the care they deserve, and our budget eliminates and reduces the waitlists at the Department of Health and Human Services for people with disabilities to get critical homecare services. Best of all, our budget doesn’t raise taxes or fees. We found savings and unspent funds in other programs.