WASHINGTON — House Republicans unveiled their latest budget outline on Tuesday, sticking to their plans to try to repeal so-called Obamacare, cut domestic programs ranging from Medicaid to college grants and require future Medicare patients to bear more of the program’s cost. The point is to prove it’s possible to balance the budget within 10 […]
budget
Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Businesses in military towns brace for budget hit
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Like many who make their living in the commercial strip outside the gates of Fort Bragg, Mike Thomas is confident the $85 billion in automatic military spending cuts will hurt sales at his used car lot and rim shop. The vast majority of his customers work on the base, and smaller […]
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Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
LePage: Paying debts a matter of character for Maine
AUBURN — Gov. Paul LePage on Friday reiterated his call for the state to pay off the $186 million it owes hospitals for MaineCare services, and he again detailed his plan for doing so with revenues from the state’s wholesale liquor business. Standing with shelves full of liquor bottles behind him at Roopers Beverage and […]
Posted inBusiness, Nation / World, sj-web
Obama names picks for Energy secretary, EPA chief, Budget director
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Monday nominated MIT professor Ernest Moniz as energy secretary, Environmental Protection Agency official Gina McCarthy as EPA administrator and Wal-Mart executive Sylvia Mathews Burwell as White House budget director. In a ceremony at the White House with all three nominees, Obama hailed their predecessors and said he was confident […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Obama, GOP make no progress on budget deal
WASHINGTON — Gridlocked once more, President Barack Obama and Republican congressional leaders refused to budge in their budget standoff Friday as $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts bore down on individual Americans and the nation’s still-recovering economy. “None of this is necessary,” said the president after a sterile White House meeting that portended a long […]
Posted inMaine
LePage says he will veto all bills until Legislature pays Maine hospitals
AUGUSTA — In a statement made on a radio talk show, Gov. Paul LePage said Friday he will veto every bill that comes to his desk until the Legislature passes legislation ensuring the state’s debt to its hospitals is paid. “I’m going to lay out a little plan that I have,” LePage told WVOM radio […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Language in LePage budget revives debate over school choice vouchers
AUGUSTA — A provision in Gov. Paul LePage’s biennial budget proposal that seeks to create a voucher system for underprivileged students and families is set to reignite the legislative debate over school choice one year after the concept was rejected by lawmakers. Deep within LePage’s 2014-15 biennial budget document is language that if passed would […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
LePage budget proposal has no money for clean election fund in 2014 campaign
AUGUSTA — Maine’s clean election system would be canceled effectively for at least the 2014 campaign under Gov. Paul LePage’s proposed biennial budget, the program’s director told the Appropriations Committee on Tuesday afternoon. LePage’s budget proposal seeks to sweep a total of $4 million from the Maine Clean Election Fund in 2014 and 2015. Jonathan […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Selling Auburn tops City Council work plan
AUBURN — City economic development and marketing can do a better job of selling the city’s assets to potential developers, councilors said Monday. Councilors said they were behind a to-do list and work plan for city staff, which was presented by City Manager Clinton Deschene during Monday’s workshop meeting. Front and center in that work […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
RSU 16 schools to get increase in state aid
POLAND — The RSU 16 School Committee received news Monday that the district apparently will receive more state aid next year than expected. “We had expected we were going to receive about $273,000 less next year than this, but on Friday we heard we may actually be receiving about $274,000 more than this year,” Superintendent […]