That means state government’s ongoing spending commitments would exceed its anticipated revenues by $1 billion dollars over the next two-year budget.
The Highway Fund has an additional shortfall of $256 million dollars.
This is House Republican Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham with the Weekly Republican Address.
For working families, the message from Augusta has become painfully familiar: Pay more, while state government spends more—and problems go unresolved.
Middle- and lower-income Mainers are at the breaking point. They are struggling with property taxes, electricity bills, groceries, and housing.
Yet under Governor Mills and one-party Democratic control, Maine’s two-year state budget has grown from $7.2 billion to $12 billion.
Where are the results?
Are families better able to afford a home? Are electric bills lower? Are our roads better? Is health care easier to find? Are students doing better in school?
Mainers deserve answers.
When Governor Paul LePage took office, he inherited a structural gap of roughly $1.5 billion across state funds. His administration spent eight years working to bring spending under control and reduce that gap.
Now, after years of strong tax collections and a host of new taxes, Maine faces a billion-dollar hole.
That is a failure of budget priorities.
Repeated MaineCare shortfalls demand more than another taxpayer bailout. We need spending discipline, stronger oversight, and aggressive action against fraud, waste, and abuse.
Every dollar lost to fraudulent billing or wasted spending is a dollar unavailable to someone who truly needs care—or another dollar demanded from a working family.
Legislative Republicans have repeatedly proposed a different direction.
We have pushed to lower taxes and restore protections against rapid property-tax increases.
We have fought to lower electricity bills and reform costly subsidies that benefit energy developers while adding charges to consumers’ bills.
Maine’s average residential electricity rate rose 98 percent over the five years, the largest percentage increase of any state.
Families cannot afford to keep absorbing those increases.
Republicans have also opposed new taxes on streaming services, cannabis and tobacco, higher taxes on some retiree pension income, and the payroll tax that takes more money out of paychecks. We have opposed increasing the cost of enjoying Maine’s outdoors.
These costs add up. They leave families with less money for necessities, savings, and emergencies.
A government approaching a $12 billion budget should be able to deliver better results without constantly reaching deeper into your pocket.
The next governor and Legislature must confront the spending commitments driving these shortfalls, protect essential services, and make affordability a year-round priority.
Mainers deserve a government that respects their work, their money, and their limits.
Mainers deserve better.
This is Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham. Thank you for listening.
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