A Republican lawmaker is calling for colleagues to oppose a budget deal approved with bipartisan committee support this week, raising questions about whether the proposal will get the two-thirds support needed from the full Legislature in order to take effect immediately.

Rep. Ken Fredette, R-Newport, said Friday that he is opposed to the supplemental budget package — approved by the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee on Wednesday — because it removes a proposal from Gov. Janet Mills to limit emergency housing assistance to three months per year and does not include certain reforms to the MaineCare program.

The $121 million proposal approved by the committee is intended to balance the state budget for the current fiscal year that expires June 30. Lawmakers have just begun negotiations on the much larger two-year budget that will take effect July 1.

Fredette is a member of the appropriations committee but was not present for its vote on the proposal during a Tuesday night meeting that stretched into Wednesday morning. At that meeting, the committee approved the $121 million proposal by a vote of 11-0 with two Republican members — Fredette and Rep. Amy Arata, R-New Gloucester — absent.

After Fredette objected, Republicans on the committee made a motion to reconsider the vote during a meeting Thursday, but that was voted down after several Democrats spoke in opposition.

“It’s really out of respect for all the hard work that we did and for all the committee members, that I think it’s important for us to stick by the vote we took the other night,” said Rep. Drew Gattine, D-Westbrook, co-chair of the committee, during Thursday’s meeting.

“When this bill goes to the floor, members will undoubtedly have a chance to vote for it. They can voice their opinion. They can offer amendments and debate those amendments.”

He said the unanimous report achieved Wednesday gives the bill a better chance of passage when it goes to the full Legislature, which could be as early as next week.

Fredette said he was not aware of Tuesday’s meeting because notice was not posted until just a few hours before it was scheduled to start, and that when he did become aware of the meeting later Tuesday night, he was under the impression he would be able to cast an after-the-fact vote on Wednesday morning.

Legislative rules allow absent committee members to register their votes with the committee clerk the next day. However, a new rule approved last month prevents lawmakers who vote after-the-fact from registering new reports. That meant Fredette could not create a new minority report opposing the supplemental budget since those present at the meeting had been unanimously in support of it.

Lawmakers from both parties are already considering changing the rule.

Two-thirds support is needed in both chambers in order for the budget to take effect immediately as an emergency measure, and Fredette said Friday he doesn’t believe the proposal approved by the committee will garner enough support among Republicans.

He said he would like to see the governor’s proposal to limit General Assistance housing support added back into the supplemental budget — a proposal that was removed by the committee and which Democrats expect to revisit in an $11.6 billion two-year budget proposal for fiscal years 2026 and 2027.

Fredette also said that budget should include additional reforms to the MaineCare program, but declined to give specific examples saying it would make negotiations more difficult.

The proposed addition to this year’s budget is needed in part to address shortfalls for MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program, because of rising health care costs and decreased support from the federal government.

The proposal also includes $2 million for spruce budworm remediation in Maine forests. Forestry experts say Maine must act quickly to address the pest this spring so as to prevent an outbreak that could devastate northern Maine forests and lead to economic losses.

The proposal does not include cost-of-living increases in Medicaid reimbursements for direct care workers, something advocates had lobbied the committee to include after they were left out of the supplemental proposal put forth by the governor.

Gattine told the committee Thursday that it is important that the bill wins bipartisan support to take effect quickly.

“There are emergency things that need to be accomplished in this budget,” he said. “When the votes are taken finally, I hope people will think about making sure hospitals and nursing homes are paid and that our forests are protected from deforestation.”

House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, took to social media Thursday to criticize Fredette’s response to the budget vote.

“Fredette prefers to create chaos rather than honoring the work of his Republican colleagues who showed up in committee, earnestly negotiated, and came to an agreement with Democrats,” Fecteau said in a Facebook post. “Hopefully, the folks who negotiated this budget and those who are actually the caucus leaders will show up for this bipartisan, unanimous agreement on Tuesday.”

House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, and Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart, R-Presque Isle, did not respond to phone and email messages seeking their thoughts on the budget and whether it is likely to garner two-thirds support.

Rep. Jack Ducharme, R-Madison, the Republican House lead on the budget committee, said he thinks it’s likely Republicans could hold out on giving two-thirds support to the proposal because of the General Assistance limit being removed.

Ducharme said the proposal does include some reforms to try to decrease MaineCare enrollments that were supported by Republicans, as well as the funding for the MaineCare budget gap and the spruce budworm remediation.

“Given the emergency nature of those things and the reforms we already had (in the proposal), we said we’re going to have to go along with it,” Ducharme said.

On Friday, Ducharme said he could not commit to voting one way or another when the bill comes to the floor, saying that party leaders are having discussions that may influence how he decides to act.