By Bonnie Washuk,Staff Writer

AUGUSTA – The picture for Maine wasn’t pretty after Gov. John Baldacci told how President Bush’s just-released budget would hurt the state.

A list provided by the governor Thursday shows that cuts in President Bush’s proposed budget would mean less money for the working poor, children, and the disabled and elderly who get health care from Medicaid.

Needy college students would have a harder time, as the Perkins Loan Program would be eliminated and some grants would be slashed. Adult education program funding would be cut in half.

Federal money would be eliminated for the Justice Assistance Grants, which pay for much of the salaries of 28 drug agents in Maine.

There’d be less money for subsidized housing for the poor, less help for Maine’s environment, and less nursing home care money for veterans, according to his list.

In almost every category, it’s discouraging, Baldacci said. “We were hoping for help with meeting mandates like special education that the federal government is underfunding by $70 million, or the No Child Left Behind that they’re underfunding by $40 million,” Baldacci said. Not only did that not happen in the proposed budget, but Maine faces additional cuts “in a whole variety from agriculture to judiciary to drug enforcement to homeland security and environmental protection. It is disheartening.”

That isn’t counting Bath Iron Works and jobs that could be lost there with Bush’s proposal to cut back on construction of destroyers, plus a potential Navy base closure in Brunswick or jobs that could be cut at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

In Medicaid, Families USA estimates Maine would lose about $35 million a year under the Bush budget, while the Center for Budget and Policy is estimating Maine will lose about $25 million a year. Either way, it’s huge, Baldacci said.

Maine Republican Party Chairman Randy Bumps disagrees with Baldacci’s assessment of the Bush budget. Much of Maine’s Medicaid woes are due to Baldacci’s pushing a public health program the state cannot afford, Bumps said.

“Governor Baldacci should stop blaming President Bush and accept responsibility to clean up Maine’s Medicaid problem,” Bumps said in written comments. Maine’s Medicaid and Dirigo Health are “too big and too costly,” he said.

In the last two years, federal Medicaid spending in Maine has grown by 35 percent, while state spending in Medicaid grew 30 percent in the same period, Bumps said.

“Apparently that’s not enough money,” Bumps said. He criticized Baldacci, saying the governor has done nothing to direct Medicaid to the most needy, and has pursued expanding Medicaid to the less needy.

Baldacci disagreed. The Medicaid cuts are due to a changed formula “that works against poorer, more-disabled populations, and it hurt Maine.” Baldacci said he has not yet expanded Medicaid eligibility in his administration. “Whatever we have for programs were there when I first took office.”

“Dirigo is a private insurance product that’s being marketed by Anthem that people are paying for.” Dirigo is due to expand Medicaid eligibility in April, Baldacci said. “That will be the first expansion in my administration. These are all cuts and shortfalls because of what’s taken place in Washington” and because of health-care costs.

On Thursday, the governor signed a letter asking for help from the Maine congressional delegation. He praised Reps. Tom Allen and Mike Michaud and Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins as a delegation “that will fight together for Maine. … There’s no partisanship on these issues. You couldn’t get a better group to fight for the state.”

He pledged to “fight the cuts” by forming a partnership with other states. “Republican governors I’ve talked to are just as concerned as Democratic governors.”

But Baldacci warned that Mainers must realize that support from the federal government is shrinking. The state has to pull together to make sure the most vulnerable people are cared for, that children get good educations and that investments are made to grow the Maine economy.

Maine has “to roll up its sleeves” and be more dependent upon itself, less dependent on federal government, he said.