Hi, this is Representative Mark Blier of Buxton with the Weekly Republican Address.
Later this month, the State of Maine will begin mailing one-time $300 affordability checks to eligible residents.
Let’s call these payments what they are: an election-year vote-buying scheme.
These checks were included in Governor Janet Mills’ final budget proposal during an election year. Record state budgets have also included tax increases that fall disproportionately on working families, seniors, and low-income Mainers.
Every Republican legislator has opposed these tax increases.
We also argued that Democrats violated state law by using money from Maine’s Budget Stabilization Fund—the Rainy Day Fund—to help pay for these checks. And when that was challenged, they simply changed the law to allow what they wanted to do.
That should concern every Mainer.
After eight straight years of one-party rule, record state revenues, and record state budgets, every challenge facing Maine families has gotten worse.
Housing costs continue to rise.
Energy remains expensive.
Property taxes continue climbing.
For too many families, Maine has become increasingly unaffordable.
It did not—and does not—have to be this way.
Throughout these eight years, legislative Republicans repeatedly proposed lowering taxes, reducing electric bills, protecting homeowners from runaway property taxes, and providing lasting tax relief for working families, seniors, and those living on fixed incomes.
We had the money to do it—your money.
For eight years, Republican affordability proposals were rejected.
Instead, some people will receive a one-time $300 check that won’t even cover a single monthly household bill.
Think about that.
Government takes more and more of your money, then returns a small portion to selected taxpayers just in time for another election.
We don’t have to keep doing the same thing and expect a different result.
Republicans have better alternatives—policies that reduce taxes, lower energy costs, restore fiscal responsibility, and make Maine affordable again.
Please support solutions that put Maine people first.
This has been Representative Mark Blier with the Weekly Republican Address.
Thank you for listening.
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