2009-2010 Budget - My Speech
May 27, 2009 -
Thank you, Madame President. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate, I rise to speak in favor of the pending motion to pass the biennial budget. I would also like to thank the Appropriations Committee and every policy committee for their difficult work in putting together this budget.
Unlike many who have spoke before me, this is my first budget. I must admit that the process has been grueling, difficult and not fun at all. You have heard about the cuts to education in full detail, and so I will just add that the cuts we are making will touch every Mainer in every part of our great state.
Like my fellow Senator from Androscoggin (Senator Nutting) I am also an optimist, and so I would like to share some of the educational investment we made, even in this dire economy. These investments leveraged stimulus money to fill major gaps in our educational landscape.
* First, we will be building a state-of-the-art Early Education facility in Waterville called Educare. This facility will finally bring together all of the early educational models under one roof in order to collect the best practices for the entire state.
* Second, we are funding the medical school scholarships program that will be state's first private/public partnership in collaboration with the University of New England's School of Osteopathic Medicine and a joint project between Tufts University and Maine Medical Center.
* Third, we are investing in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Maine for tuition stipends and fees for graduate students
* Finally, we are investing in laptops. Maine will be providing 1 laptop to every student from, seventh to twelfth grade. We are leading the nation.
The cuts that we are voting for in the budget are hard, deep and will be long-lasting. We have much to do as leaders, and I look forward to working with each of you. Thank you.
