MAINE

 

The President’s budget makes drastic cuts in funding for programs that matter to families in Maine. These cuts will shift responsibility for funding these priorities onto the already cash-strapped state. Since Maine will not be able to provide the same level of services with less federal funding, the budget cuts will force the state either to reduce funding for schools and leave more people hungry, homeless, cold and uninsured, or to raise state taxes. 

 

 

EDUCATION: The President’s budget would reduce funding for education and training programs in Maine in 2006, with the cuts getting bigger in later years. No program, including K-12, will be spared. 

 

• Maine will lose more than $59 million in total elementary and secondary education spending[1];
• Funding for special education programs will be cut by almost $37 million in Maine;
• Maine school improvement programs will lose more than $24 million; and
• Vocational and adult education programs will be cut by more than $26 million in Maine.

 

 

FAMILY SERVICES: Programs providing needed services to low-income families in Maine face major cuts in 2006, with the cuts getting bigger over time. Under the President’s budget proposal, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), programs for abused and neglected children, Head Start, and child care assistance programs all face steep cuts.

 

• Maine will lose more than $1.5 million in WIC funding, and nearly 1,900 people will be cut from the program;
• In Maine, Children and Family services (including Head Start and programs for abused and neglected children) would lose almost $14 million; 
• More than 110 children in Maine will lose access to Head Start in 2006[2], and 500 will lose access to the program in 2010; and
• In Maine, 800 children will lose child care assistance in 2009.

 

 

HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: The President’s budget targets housing and community development programs in Maine for funding cuts in 2006 and beyond. 

 

• 2,200 families in Maine will lose rental assistance vouchers;
• The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) will be cut by $2.2 million in Maine; and
• In Maine, Community Development programs will be cut by almost $49 million. 

 

 

HEALTH: The budget would cut funding in Maine for HIV/AIDS treatment services, including funding to help those with HIV/AIDS purchase drugs.  President Bush has also proposed major cuts to the Medicaid program in Maine. 

 

• Maine will lose $500,000 in HIV/AIDS funding;
• Medicaid funding for Maine will be cut by more than $342 million[3]; and 

• 13,400 children or 2,500 seniors in Maine could be covered by the Medicaid funding cuts proposed in 2010. 

 

 

PENTAGON: While taxpayers in Maine would lose local services, they will pay increasingly more for the Pentagon.

 

• Maine will spend more than $57 million for the proposed increase in military spending[4]; and
• More than $440 million of what Congress has so far allocated for the Iraq War will come from Maine.