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By ALANNA DURKIN Associated Press AUGUSTA — Maine Gov. Paul LePage vetoed a bill Wednesday that would expand Medicaid coverage to roughly 70,000 residents under President Barack Obama's fed eral health care law and priva tize the program through man aged care, sending the measure back to the Legislature, where two-thirds of lawmakers would be needed to overturn his rejection of the bill. In his veto letter, LePage reiterated his staunch opposi tion to the proposal, saying it would have a “disastrous impact on Maine's budget” and calling the proposed savings through the expansion and managed care “mirages.” He also vetoed the plan the two other times the Democratic controlled Legislature sent it to his desk last year. “Proponents of this bill tout ‘free’ federal money and Train Regulations APAGI evidence that two-man crews are safer than a lone crew member .If a regulation is pro posed, then the least that can be expected is that a federal agency should back it up with grounded data that justifies the (recommended) rule,” Edward Hamberger, the association's president and CEO, said in a statement, “To date, nothing but rhetoric and empty pronouncements have been offered to validate their claims.” Federal officials also said they will propose regulations that would prohibit certain unattended freight trains or standing freight cars on main track or sidings. The proposal will also require locomotive cabs be locked and reversers be “removed and secured” A reverser controls which direction a train can move. Removing a reverser effectively unspecified state ‘savings’ with no backup for these claims,” LePage said. “It is shortsighted to think federal funds will always be available, especially after watching the federal deficit climb and witnessing continual delays and changes from Washington.” Lawmakers’ ability to over ride LePage’s veto is uncertain. The two previous attempts to override the veto of the bill, which requires two-thirds support of present-and-voting lawmakers, failed last session. The measure passed in both chambers last month, but fell short of the support it would need to overturn LePage’s veto. Democratic leaders called on their Republican colleagues to help them override LePage's veto. “The governor's veto mes sage is a direct message to the Mainers whose health care has become too costly disables the locomotive. Railroads will also be required to obtain advance approval from the railroad administration for locations or circumstances where it is per missible to leave unattended cars or equipment, the agency said. The proposals aren't expect ed to be formally released until sometime this summer. The railroad administra tion’s announcement coin cided with a Senate hearing at which lawmakers pressed Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx to move for ward as quickly as possible on an array of safety measures, including stronger standards for rail tank cars used to trans port crude oil and other haz ardous materials. Foxx said regulators draft ing new tank car standards need to know more about the volatility of the kind of oil being extracted in the Bakken region, but have received sample data from only three and out of reach,” said Senate Majority Leader Troy Jackson of Allagash. “He's told them, ‘Don't get sick’! Instead of try ing to help them, he has, once again, pulled the ladder up behind him. Developed by two Republican senators, the bill was designed to be a com promise and includes several things that GOP lawmakers wanted, including an attempt to reduce the waitlist for ser vice in Medicaid and putting two new fraud investigators in the attorney general’s office. It also seeks to provide budget stability in the swelling Medicaid program by having the state contract with private companies to operate the pro gram and allowing the state to withdraw from the expansion after three years, when the federal government begins to gradually lower its share of the cost from 100 percent to 90 percent or more oil companies. “We haven't received a robust sample from the indus try,” he said. Regulators working on tank car standards are moving ahead “with absolute speed, but we need to know we are hitting the right safety stan dard,” Foxx said. U.S. crude oil production is forecast to reach 8.5 million barrels a day by the end of this year, up from 5 million barrels a day in 2008. The increase is overwhelmingly due to the fracking boom in the Bakken region, which is mainly in North Dakota, but also extends into parts of Montana and Canada, US. freight railroads trans ported about 415,000 carloads of crude in 2013, up from just 9,500 in 2008, according to government and industry figures. The oil trains, some of which are 100 cars long, pass through or near scores of cities and towns.
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Biddeford Journal Tribune
Biddeford, Maine, US
Thu, Apr 10, 2014
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