Thank you Mr. President and ladies and gentlemen of the Senate.

I want to thank all the members of the Appropriations Committee including our three Senators from Hancock, Kennebec and York.

From this vantage point, it seems the passing of the supplemental budget went along w/relative ease. (joke: of course i wasn’t on the committee)

I think it’s safe to say that one major reason for the committees success was the unexpected $111 million dollars left over from the previous administration’s budget.

Over the last four years, we had to make a lot of difficult decisions. We remained disciplined and it is because of that fiscal responsibility, we are in the position to say that today’s state budget is the same as it was in FY 2005.

There are many highlights to this supplemental budget. I’d like to point out one–perhaps the one that’s received the most attention. During this budgeting process we are wrapping up an endeavor that started under the previous administration. By completing our payment agreement with the hospitals, we are bring this chapter to a close.

On Friday night, when the last vote was cast by the committee on this unanimous budget, a committee member spoke about how disturbing it was that the hospital issue became so politicized. I, too, do not understand how this agreement with the hospitals has become a political football.

I think it’s important that we speak with facts. Let me reference the payments made to the hospital over the last seven years:
  • 2003: $66,000,000
  • 2004: $119,000,00
  • 2005: $119,000,000
  • 2006: $121,000,000
  • 2007: $150,000,000
  • 2008: $150,000,000
  • 2009: $266,000,000
The seven years of payments to hospitals total over $1 billion dollars.

Today, I am supporting the supplemental budget and thank our colleagues for their tireless and bipartisian efforts.