By Michael Shepherd - Jan. 20, 2023
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📷 Republicans in the Maine House of Representatives, including Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham of Winter Harbor (bottom), look up to see how their colleagues voted on a heating assistance package on Jan. 4, 2023, at the State House in Augusta. (AP photo by Robert F. Bukaty)

Good morning from Augusta. Today's storm is expected to drop up to 9 inches of snow across Maine. Here's your soundtrack.

What we're watching today

Here's a preview of the fight coming over the governor's abortion-rights expansion. Gov. Janet Mills may be in for the biggest cultural fight of her tenure over the series of abortion-rights expansions that she laid out at a Tuesday news conference, led by a change that would allow doctors to perform abortions after fetal viability if they deem them medically necessary.

That viability cutoff, common in abortion-rights states like Maine, has not been changed since a landmark 1993 law that codified Roe v. Wade here. After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that decision last year, red states have moved to ban or limit abortions while blue states have looked to preserve or expand access, leading to the current flashpoint over the issue here.

Abortions later in pregnancies are relatively rare. Maine's cutoff for most abortions now sits around 24 weeks, but there were no abortions in week 20 or later here in 2021. Mills highlighted the story of a Maine woman who discovered at week 32 that her fetus had a condition that would lead it to die shortly after being born and had to travel to Colorado for a legal abortion.

While doctors said the changes would help women in outlying cases, anti-abortion groups reacted strongly. The state's Catholic bishop called Mills and Democrats "radical and extreme" on the issue. The evangelical Christian Civic League issued a Thursday alert to supporters saying the changes "must be stopped."

"We have our role to play. So do you," the group said. "In the coming weeks, we will be able to give you more information on what you can do to help."

One option is a people's veto effort if the changes pass, something conservative radio host Ray Richardson vowed to work on during his Friday show. Anti-abortion advocates tried to overturn Mills-backed laws in 2019 that allowed Medicaid funding for abortions and expanded the list of medical professionals allowed to perform them, but it failed to get on the ballot behind low signature totals in southern Maine.

History tells us their success in even getting to the ballot is not promised, much less winning in a state where abortion rights poll well. Discussion of such an effort may also be ahead of itself because the measures are not all printed yet in Augusta. Lawmakers could choose to change them before final votes.

But it seems clear that Augusta is already primed for an emotional fight over abortion, potentially unlike any we have seen here in 30 years. It will be a fascinating addition to the 2023 legislative session and the wider political debate in Maine.

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News and notes

📷 Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, left, Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, the ranking member, U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger, and Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, meet ahead of a committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Dec. 19, 2022. (AP photo by Matt Rourke)

👛 A Maine senator negotiates an eye-catching Social Security proposal.

◉ Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, are putting together a Social Security reform proposal that could invest borrowed government money in stocks to help ensure the system's solvency, the news outlet Semafor reported Friday.

◉ Social Security is fully funded through 2034 and is set to pay out roughly three-quarters of benefits after that. Spokespeople for King and Cassidy told Semafor that the plan would not touch that fund, with another source saying any new sovereign wealth fund would be in addition to the current fund.

◉ The two senators have negotiated together before as part of a broad coalition passing the recent bipartisan gun and infrastructure bills. Their proposal indicates some willingness in Congress to fix long-term problems in major government programs, but it could still face opposition from those who see risk or a major government intervention into private industry.

💰 The other senator is part of a milestone for women in Congress.

◉ Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is one of four women who will hold the top posts on the Senate and House appropriations panels for the first time ever, NBC News noted. It comes 50 years after two women chaired their first congressional committee — on the Capitol beauty salon.

◉ Each of the lawmakers — Collins and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, plus Reps. Kay Granger, R-Texas, and Rosa DeLauro, D-Connecticut, got to Congress in the 1990s. They will now control $1.7 trillion in annual spending affecting every facet of government.

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What we're reading

🕵️ The ACLU called for a federal probe into Penobscot County for setting aside federal COVID-19 relief money for a jail expansion.

💸 Here's why Mainers should care about the threat of a federal default.

🌐 Everyone in this small Maine town will get high-speed internet this year.

📱 Maine state employees were ordered to remove TikTok from official phones.

🔴 Bangor school staff can now call police by pressing a button.

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