Maine: Washington

AUGUSTA, Maine — The doors to the federal bank seemed to swing wide open this week as announcement after announcement came from Washington, D.C., about economic stimulus cash headed Maine’s way.

For a small state like Maine, the numbers were eye-catching, to say the least.

— $100 million for renovations to federal buildings, including $53 million for the Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building in Bangor.

— $100 million more to help rural Mainers purchase homes.

— $48 million for the state’s public schools.

And that’s just a partial list.

With so much money flowing so fast, there are concerns that some of those taxpayer dollars will be squandered, or end up in the pockets of people who didn’t do a thing to help get the economy back on track.

AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine’s elected officials are continuing their campaigns for a federal exemption that would allow heavy tractor-trailers to use Interstate 95 rather than have to drive on back roads and through downtown areas.

Maine’s congressional delegation has been battling unsuccessfully for years to convince their colleagues in Washington, D.C., to allow trucks weighing up to 100,000 pounds to stay on I-95 north of Augusta. Currently, trucks weighing more than 80,000 pounds must switch to local roads after leaving the Maine Turnpike, which is exempt.

In his latest attempt at an exemption, Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, introduced a bill that would give states the authority to set weight limits in the interstate system in order to make them consistent with surrounding states.

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.

The Employee Free Choice Act of 2009 (H.R. 1409, Reps. Michaud and Pingree as original cosponsors, now up 222 members) was introduced this week in Congress, and so it is back in the news.

A rally in support of it was held yesterday in Bangor, and the BDN has this report:

A group of about 20 held a rally Wednesday morning at Food AND Medicine in Brewer, an organization that formed in 2002 to assist laid-off workers with food, medicine and other necessities. Jack McKay, director of Food AND Medicine and the Eastern Maine Labor Council, called the event a success if for no other reason than it keeps the debate going.