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The Baldacci administration said Friday that the MaineCare program is facing an additional $65 million deficit over the next three months that will have to be filled with federal stimulus money.

That news prompted an angry response from Republican leaders, who accused Gov. John Baldacci of hiding the shortfall until Friday. Republicans also suggested that the incident could undermine the administration’s pledges of transparency.

“I’m beside of myself about the fact that we had a State of the State address on Tuesday with none of this information,” said Sen. Peter Mills, R-Skowhegan.

Finance Commissioner Ryan Low told members of two legislative committees on Friday that, as expected, the recession is driving up utilization of MaineCare services.