[View the story “Gov. Paul LePage’s Auburn town hall meeting” on Storify] Those include continuing to lower the state’s income tax, to reduce the cost of energy, to reform welfare programs and to lower the cost of higher education. But in his characteristic blunt-talking style, LePage also alternately took shots at two of his favorite […]
welfare
Posted inMaine, sj-web
MaineCare transportation costs rose 12 percent in 2014
PORTLAND — State documents say the MaineCare transportation program cost $5.4 million more to operate in the 2014-15 fiscal year than previous years. The Portland Press Herald reports the $50.3 million spent in 2014-15 was 12 percent higher than the $44.9 million cost a year earlier. The program came under fire in 2013 for missed […]
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Posted inMaine, sj-web
Dunlap recommends GOP split tax and welfare reform referendum
AUGUSTA — The Maine Republican Party will move forward with a proposed 2016 referendum question to reduce taxes and reform welfare at once, even though Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said Tuesday that it should be split into two different questions. Dunlap’s decision is a recommendation for now, but he said he has the […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Maine has fewest residents on SNAP since 2009
AUGUSTA — Maine health and human services officials say the number of state residents enrolled in the food stamps program has dropped below 200,000 for the first time in more than six years. The state Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Family Independence says 199,157 people were enrolled in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
SNAP asset test gets public hearing in Augusta
AUGUSTA — Citizens and anti-poverty advocates on Tuesday decried Gov. Paul LePage’s plan to block Mainers with more than $5,000 in certain assets from receiving food stamps, saying it will only victimize senior citizens, the disabled, veterans and the poor. The Department of Health and Human Services has said the $5,000 asset test will be […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Mayor Robert Macdonald explains welfare listing on Fox News
In his weekly column in the Twin City Times, Macdonald called for the Legislature to consider a bill that would require a website listing names of people on welfare, their addresses, the length of time they’d spent on welfare and the types of benefits they received. That information is shielded from the public under current […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
No sponsor for Macdonald ‘s welfare ID bill
LEWISTON — With his proposed legislation to make public identifying information about welfare recipients seemingly dead, Mayor Robert Macdonald said Friday he’s glad he started a conversation. “I don’t think it would have made it, not even past the committee,” Macdonald said Friday. “But you know what? I thought, let’s throw it out there.” In […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Lewiston mayor wants public listing of welfare recipients
LEWISTON — Mayor Robert Macdonald, who is seeking re-election to a third term, said he intends to submit a bill to the Legislature to require the creation of a website listing names of people on welfare, their addresses, length of time on welfare and types of benefits received. All of that information is shielded from […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Maine GOP starts citizen initiative on tax and welfare reform
AUGUSTA — Maine Republican Party Chairman Rick Bennett said Wednesday that the party intends to send major tax and welfare reforms it hopes to enact through citizen initiative in 2016 to voters as a single ballot question. Though Secretary of State Matt Dunlap, a Democrat, has final say regarding how the question will be worded, […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Maine GOP, Paul LePage plan citizen initiatives on taxes, welfare
More State House coverage: LePage holding town meeting at UMF Tuesday | LePage says nominations on hold during ‘cooldown period’ AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage and the Maine Republican Party will go straight to a statewide vote in pursuit of his goals of eliminating the income tax and implementing a variety of reforms to social services. That LePage […]