AUGUSTA — Lawmakers reached an early morning deal today on an alternative budget proposal for the Department of Health and Human Services — a move that likely will send the budget to the House and Senate for votes next week.

Members of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee came to an agreement on two controversial items that had stalled the process in recent days.

As part of a bipartisan compromise, the budget proposal caps MaineCare funding for childless adults, or non-categoricals, at $40 million by freezing enrollment and through natural attrition.

Additionally, the committee agreed to reduce the eligibility threshold for parents of children on MaineCare from 200 percent of poverty level to 133 percent of poverty level. That change will not take affect until October 2012, however, and will bring Maine in line with the threshold spelled out in the federal Affordable Care Act.

The deal received unanimous support from Republicans and Democrats on the Appropriations Committee. Party leaders from both sides helped negotiate the compromise.

It’s not yet clear how Gov. Paul LePage will react to the alternative budget. He has criticized lawmakers sharply in recent days and on Tuesday said he would veto any budget bill that did not eliminate non-categoricals.

“Democrats are hell intent on sitting on their hands,” LePage told Mal Leary of Capitol News Service on Tuesday. “A majority budget doesn’t do it because it takes too much time and a two-thirds budget will not happen unless you sell your soul and I sold my soul to the devil long ago.”

The compromise budget reduces the amount of non- categoricals from the MaineCare rolls by about half, lawmakers said, but does not eliminate them from coverage.

Democrats said it was important to pass a budget so Maine could pay its bills, and they were pleased that some drastic cuts were avoided.

“We were able to stay at the negotiating table and agree to a solution that protects health care for thousands,” said Sen. Dawn Hill, D-York, said in a statement. “We rejected the worst of the governor’s callous proposals to cut programs for seniors, the disabled and children.”

In total, lawmakers have tentatively approved $120 million in cuts to DHHS for the 2012 fiscal year that ends on June 30.

An additional $80 million in proposed cuts to the DHHS budget for 2013 are expected to be debated in a separate bill later this month.

Last December, LePage unveiled a plan to cut $ 220 million from DHHS to address a shortfall in 2012 and 2013. His initial plan would have removed 65,000 people from MaineCare by making structural changes to the program he believes are necessary to keep it solvent in the years ahead.

Appropriations Committee members balked at some of the items in the governor’s budget and have worked for weeks to find alternatives.

Neither side was entirely thrilled with the final product, but members acknowledged that a compromise was best for Maine people.

“We had to pass this budget to keep the lights on, make sure seniors get their medicine, and ensure nurses and health workers continue to get paid,” said Rep. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, the lead Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. “We had few choices to resolve the immediate budget problem.”

In order for the budget to go into effect immediately, it needs support from twothirds of lawmakers. That means 101 votes in the House and 24 in the Senate.

For more, see the Bangor Daily News at bangordailynews.com

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