AUGUSTA (AP) – Democratic and Republican lawmakers, taking turns meeting with Gov. John Baldacci, remained at odds over a supplemental budget package Wednesday as an Appropriations Committee showdown loomed.

The two sides appeared ready to issue separate sets of revisions to Baldacci’s original $160 million measure, but the governor said he still hoped for a bipartisan compromise.

“We’d like to get this done this week,” Baldacci said.

Democrats have been seeking to minimize sharp cutbacks in the state’s Medicaid program, favoring more aggressive case management and oversight rather than outright eliminations of services.

“We do have to balance the budget, but we have to balance the health care needs of Maine people,” said House Speaker Patrick Colwell, D-Gardiner.

Republicans, too, have lined up against some of the most unpopular service reductions initially put forth by the governor, but say they want to emphasize actual savings instead of new revenue sources.

“The sides are not together yet,” Baldacci said. “My hope is that we can develop a bipartisan budget. This is still in process.”

Republican House and Senate leaders emerged from a meeting in the governor’s office suggesting that the governor and his Democratic legislative allies were prepared to move ahead without GOP support.

“They’re going majority, no question,” said Senate Minority Leader Paul Davis, R-Sangerville.

“Once again, they’re going to raise taxes, raise fees,” complained House Minority Leader Joe Bruno, R-Raymond.

Senate President Beverly Daggett, D-Augusta, said further discussions between Democrats and Republicans were needed to determine just how far apart the two sides were.

At the same time, she said, “it needs to be very quick.”

Even tentative decisions one way or another, she suggested, would have to be fleshed out in detail.

“Once something gets written, it sometimes look different than when the handshake took place,” Daggett said.

Budget legislation remained in the Appropriations Committee, which has been working for days, in private and in public, without reaching accord.

Double sessions of the House and Senate on Wednesday reduced time available to the panel. Some committee members seemed to be working on specific provisions but no comprehensive talks were reported.

Partisan rhetoric had begun to heat up.

“Tough decisions are being put off until next year,” Davis said. “Next year, all the gimmicks and all the one-time fixes … all that’s gone.”

Colwell rejected GOP tax charges – “there are no new broad-based taxes in this” – and said funding health care restorations through fees could be a worthwhile trade.

If new fee revenue would bolster assistance for mentally ill or mentally retarded Mainers, Colwell said, “then I think that’s a fee that the people of Maine will support.”

Despite prevailing disagreements, Colwell said he still saw a chance of a deal.

“It is possible and we are working toward that end,” he said.

AP-ES-04-07-04 1810EDT