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| 📷 Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., left, and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, talk during a break in a Senate subcommittee hearing on June 9, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (New York Times photo by Stefani Reynolds via AP) |
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🩸 Two bipartisan duos battle over rival insulin relief measures.
◉ Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire, are jousting with another bipartisan pair for the attention of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, who holds the keys to a health care package that could cap insulin costs at $35 per month, Politico reported.
◉ Proposals from Collins and Shaheen as well as Sens. John Kennedy, R-Louisiana, and Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia, would put that price cap into place, though the New England senators' bill would go further to require rebates and discounts be passed on to consumers and seeks to increase competition in the insulin market.
◉ Collins has spoken privately with Schumer, Politico notes, which is notable given their rivalry over Democrats' loud 2020 campaign against the Maine senator. But Warnock has said he has a promise for his measure to be included in any Senate health care package. It may fall to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, the health panel chair, to reconcile the ideas.
🤑 Proposed business tax breaks attract conservative and liberal criticism.
◉ When Mills moved last week to roll out a package of souped-up business tax cuts to replace breaks that have been often criticized, top legislative Democrats, one budget committee Republican and industry groups were quoted in a news release in support of the new "Dirigo Business Incentive."
◉ It was a political chess move by the governor, who benefited the next day from news that state forecasters are projecting more short-term revenue surpluses that she wants to use to partially fund her new program. The new tax cuts are expected to cost $54.5 million in the first full year, nearly three times more than the current suite that Mills is looking to phase out.
◉ These kinds of programs have critics on both sides of the political spectrum. The conservative Maine Policy Institute called the old and new programs "corporate welfare" in a statement supporting legislative Republicans' desire for income tax cuts, while the liberal Maine Center for Economic Policy published a report critical of business tax break programs on Monday.
◉ "Rather than expanding existing tax giveaways or implementing new ones, Maine should reform its approach to business tax giveaways," the liberal group said. |
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What we're reading
💰 Continued state surpluses rekindle Republican tax-cut demands.
🪓 The Supreme Court looks ready to ax a long-debated Maine law allowing towns to profit from home seizures.
⛷️ A Maine ski town's building boom leads to worry over short-term rentals.
🍏 Despite its failure, Maine sees a rural regional high school as a model.
🎣 This invasive fish that took over lakes now threatens the rest of Maine. Here's your soundtrack. |
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