Economy won’t improve by making harmful cuts
By Rep. John Martin
(D-Eagle Lake)
Last week the economic fallout from political games in Washington made daily headlines. The Tea Party in Washington held our economy hostage. We saw the U,S, credit rating downgraded for the first time in history as a result of political gridlock.
The domino effect was palpable.
The stock market dipped. European and Asian markets buckled. Fear and panic spread from investment boardrooms to kitchen tables in my rural community in Eagle Lake. How would this impact home buying, car loans, and consumer spending?
Rather than calm fears or talk about the bipartisan track record of problem solving in Maine, Governor LePage joined the Tea Party. During interviews in Bangor, he called for the streamlining commission, which I serve on, to “cut until it hurts,” he said during a media event. Hurt who? Aren’t Maine families hurting enough?
Cutting funding for towns and cities will hurt our local roads and schools. Cutting investment in roads and bridges, and in research and development, will hurt job creation and business growth. Cutting more into our safety net will mean putting more people on the street.
Cutting until it hurts is the wrong approach for Maine families and small businesses. It won’t generate job growth or improve our state’s economy. Maine and states across the country are working to assess how Washington’s debt deal will impact budgets.
The streamlining commission met for the first time this week. The bipartisan group is required by law to find $25 million in savings. The governor has called for $100 million in additional cuts. Finding savings must be based on data and facts not numbers pulled out of thin air.
He’s right to prepare for potential cuts based on possible losses of federal revenue streams. But he must follow the public process. His departments and his office will need to present their plan for cuts to the public and the legislature just like any other budget.
The full legislature will consider any new proposals for cuts from the governor in January once we’ve heard from the public about the impact. We’ve seen the governor’s extreme proposals meet sharp rebuke from the public before. At this point we’ve seen this governor propose to spend more on his budget than his predecessor by increasing tax cuts for the wealthy.
Maine families have had to cut back their budgets for years. Some have even had to take on second jobs to increase their monthly revenue. But you can’t stop going to the doctor when you are sick and you can’t turn off the heat in the middle of winter.
We shouldn’t cut until it hurts just for the sake of cutting. We should find savings where we can and look for ways to grow our economy. The commission will work to make sure the savings we find don’t cause more harm to our economic recovery.
