By Michael Shepherd - March 3, 2023
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📷 Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, left, and and Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, talk during a committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Feb. 29, 2019. (AP photo by Carolyn Kaster)

Good morning from Augusta. A few legislative committees are in Friday, including the budget panel for the last scheduled public hearing on the governor's two-year state spending plan. Here's the full agenda.

What we're watching today

Sen. Angus King gained lots of attention this week as finer details continue to come out on his bipartisan effort to shore up Social Security's finances, including a potential item that would raise the retirement age to 70.

Here's what you need to know about the problem the group is trying to fix, why the effort is fraught and when you can expect something concrete.

Social Security is not exactly going broke, but it has huge problems. With the Baby Boomer generation leaving the workforce, an unprecedented wave of retirements is expected between now and 2030. This has wide economic repercussions in Maine and across the country and big effects on Social Security, which provides retirement, disability and survivor benefits.

If Congress does nothing, one of the main funds holding up Social Security will be insolvent by 2033, according to the Congressional Budget Office. This does not mean the program will be broke. It means that benefits will limited to the taxes coming in each year, adding up to a 23 percent benefit decrease.

Any stress on the program would have major effects in Maine, which is the nation's oldest state by median age and has the second-highest share of beneficiaries among states behind West Virginia. The state also expects the senior share of population to double here between 2010 and 2038.

Fixes will be fraught with politics. Nationally, Republicans have long advocated for raising the retirement age and doing other things to cull back future benefits, while Democrats generally favor scrapping a cap on wages that are taxable under Social Security. That now sits just above $160,000.

Maine has seen the politics of Social Security and Medicare up close. Former Rep. Bruce Poliquin of Maine's 2nd District won and lost campaigns that often focused on his support for Republican budgets that aimed to slim benefits, while he responded by saying he wanted no changes for current beneficiaries. The Maine AFL-CIO has already criticized King for his focus on the issue.

But centrist Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has already criticized items from the King negotiations that have spilled into public view. For example, she said raising the retirement age would harm Mainers in physically demanding jobs. Complicating things further is that President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are warning against eroding benefits.

King's group has no proposal so far, but it is expected to sometime soon. The Maine senator, an independent who is aligned with Democrats, is leading talks on the issue with the retiring Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana. Other dealmakers including Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, and Mitt Romney, R-Utah, are involved in the discussions as well.

Spokespeople for King and Cassidy have underscored that there is no framework yet and that senators are sharing ideas at this stage. But a proposal is expected in the next few months, so things are getting real on the topic. I discussed this with CBS News 13's Gregg Lagerquist last night.

“I think it will likely be introduced this year,” Romney told The Hill. “I’m not sure it’ll pass this year, but obviously, it’s a huge topic with enormous interest, and the fact that we have both Medicare and Social Security that are slated to become insolvent within a decade suggests that we need to make sure to save them.”

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News and notes

📷 Bill Cunningham sets a bottle of water on top of his dispenser at his home in Pittsfield on Aug. 24, 2022. (BDN photo by Linda Coan O'Kresik)

💧 Lawmakers are rallying around exempting bottled water from taxes.

◉ One Republican measure is gaining some steam in the Legislature's tax committee: a bill from Rep. Chad Perkins, R-Dover-Foxcroft, to exempt drinking water from sales taxes. Rep. Tavis Hasenfus, D-Winthrop, is working on an amendment to Perkins' proposal in the committee now.

◉ Some perceived tax inequities could be spurring the bill along. For example, companies that have jugs of bottled water delivered to their offices do not pay sales taxes, but Mainers who buy them for their homes do.

◉ But progressives have termed the bill as effectively a giveaway to bottlers like Poland Spring, with the Sierra Club Maine saying lawmakers should not incentivize more bottled water production, particularly after the brand discovered PFAS in its water supply. It has said it is filtering the water it sells.

🇺🇸 The presidential answer hasn't changed for Maine's senior senator.

◉ Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told us in November that her party would have "better candidates" than former President Donald Trump in 2024, naming former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie while saying Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has a lot of support." Only Trump and Haley are running now.

◉ Punchbowl News got the same thing out of her ahead of a Friday newsletter in which she mentions those first three potential hopefuls, calling Scott bright and experienced with "an inspiring life story." If Scott does not run, he also may be a top vice presidential contender for the eventual nominee.

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What we're reading

💊 This case could be the biggest court threat yet to abortion access in Maine.

🔒 A Brewer man is guilty of manslaughter in the death of his 6-month-old son.

😷 Puritan Medical Products laid off 251 workers but expects to rehire them.

🏢 A new housing project in Belfast could switch to all affordable units.

📸 Check out these photos of a bobcat blind in one eye. Here's your soundtrack.

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