Good morning from Augusta. A $1.9 trillion federal coronavirus relief bill is expected to pass the House today. Here’s your soundtrack.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “We are reaching out to people and appreciate that she made the announcement,” Ted Hugger, owner of the Cedar Crest Inn in Camden and the Cod Cove Inn in Edgecomb, said after a bump in hotel reservations after Gov. Janet Mills announced an economic reopening plan last week.
What we’re watching today
It has been three months since the Legislature came together, and they are still far apart on key spending issues. Lawmakers will meet Tuesday and Wednesday at the Augusta Civic Center to handle bills passed out of committees. The main attraction will be Mills’ supplemental budget, which is heading toward failure with Democrats and Republicans about $32 million apart. Taxes and control of future federal aid are the sticking points.
Both chambers need two-thirds votes on the measure to pass it into law. The parties both have an incentive to end their game of chicken quickly. With April 15 nearly a month away, businesses will get hammered by state taxes if Maine does not adopt federal policies on coronavirus aid after the parties agreed to not tax Paycheck Protection Program proceeds.
Republicans now want to adopt other business tax breaks, saying a $50 million transfer from a liquor revenue fund can pay for it. Tax conformity has already raised spending in the budget, as full Paycheck Protection Program forgiveness costs an estimated $100 million, though more federal stimulus money — $1 billion of it to the state — is coming to Maine.
Republicans have won concessions already, but there may not be much more for them to win this week. The minority party wants a provision that would mandate two-thirds votes on any plan by the Democratic governor to spend that federal aid, but Democrats are unlikely to grant that as a condition for the supplemental budget with many other issues on tap for the next two days.
Democrats are also likely to turn back a resolution from Rep. Peter Lyford, R-Eddington, to end Mills’ emergency powers to manage the pandemic. A bill from Democratic leaders focused on COVID-19 testing and vaccination may also get a vote. The chambers may choose to handle others including a divisive proposal to revert to Maine’s former flag.
The Maine politics top 3
— “Craig Hickman easily holds Augusta-area Maine Senate seat for Democrats,” Michael Shepherd, Bangor Daily News: “[Former state Rep. Craig] Hickman, a 53-year-old farmer from Winthrop who served four House terms through last year, won 62.6 percent of votes to 37.4 percent for Will Guerrette of Pittston. The Bangor Daily News and Decision Desk HQ, its national election results partner, called the race at 8:48 p.m. Democrats will keep a 22-13 majority in the Senate after Hickman’s victory.”
A Republican strategist vented after the blowout that his candidate was harmed by nationalization in local politics. Hickman was a top-tier candidate who has won in swing areas before. This campaign was relatively subdued but expensive. Shawn Roderick, a Senate Republican aide who runs their campaign apparatus, said Guerrette deserved no blame for a “classical campaign” focused on taxes and gun rights.
Some voters wanted Guerrette to condemn Collins, Roderick said. Some wanted him to condemn Trump. In the end, turnout was stacked in favor of Democrats. Their stronghold of Hallowell, for example, saw 39 percent turnout, a staggering number for a special election.
“The party’s all over the place,” Roderick said. “I mean, you can see it in the vote: Republicans obviously stayed home.”
— “Belfast officials want to limit the use of megaphones in wake of anti-mask protests,” Abigail Curtis, BDN: “Councilor Mary Mortier acknowledged Tuesday that the megaphone has been cited as a problem by people concerned by the anti-mask protests, which can last for up to two hours. But officials emphasized that the revision of the city’s decades-old noise ordinance is aimed at creating a citywide standard and not just at one or two of the groups that protest downtown.”
— “COVID-19 cases continue to drop nationally, but they’re staying flat in Maine,” Jessica Piper, BDN: “Cases have remained stubbornly high in recent weeks after dropping for more than a month, suggesting the virus is more prevalent in Maine now than it ever was in the spring or summer. The seven-day average of new cases was 162 as of Tuesday, down nearly three-quarters from a mid-January peak of 625, but still higher than any day in the pandemic prior to Nov. 8.”
What Schumer’s slight to Collins means for interparty relations
There is a divide between how the Democratic leader and the president are talking about the Maine senator in public. No love is lost between Collins and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York. The Maine Republican hammered him throughout her 2020 campaign as his Democratic campaign apparatus ran a scorched-earth campaign to oust her.
She survived, of course, but relations have not improved. In a Tuesday interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Schumer defended his party-line approach to the $1.9 trillion stimulus by pointing to Collins’ role in convincing Democrats to rein in a 2009 stimulus package. It won her vote and cinched its passage, but Schumer looked back on the assuaging of Collins as a mistake.
“Susan Collins was part of that mistake,” he said. “We cut back on the stimulus dramatically and we stayed in recession for five years.” (The recession ended in late 2009, though the U.S. economy took years to recover to pre-crisis levels.)
In a bit of Washington drama, Ron Klain, the chief of staff to President Joe Biden, retweeted a mention of Schumer’s line on Collins. The senator, who is friendly with Biden, blamed Klain for his role in ultimately fruitless bipartisan stimulus negotiations, saying the chief of staff was “shaking his head in the back of the room” during a meeting with the president and Republicans.
As he prepares an infrastructure package, Biden has not looked to personalize differences with Republicans on the stimulus. Schumer — and perhaps Klain — are clearly more willing to do that with Collins. It may portend less comity to come. Democrats may not mind that.
Today’s Daily Brief was written by Jessica Piper, Michael Shepherd and Caitlin Andrews. If you’re reading this on the BDN’s website or were forwarded it, you can sign up to have it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning here.
To reach us, do not reply directly to this newsletter, but contact the political team at mshepherd@bangordailynews.com, candrews@bangordailynews.com or jpiper@bangordailynews.com.
