In his weekly call in to the George Hale Ric Tyler Show on WVOM, Gov. Paul LePage attacked a bill sponsored by House Speaker Sara Gideon, D-Freeport, that would direct the state to use $150 million in federal block grants toward welfare programs.

“I will tell you right on the surface I don’t know what she’s talking about, but I am not sitting on $150 million of uncommitted federal funds,” said LePage. “She’s just dead wrong.”

The $150 million in Gideon’s bill refers to a similar sized amount of money in unspent federal block grants for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which was found in a legislative analysis last year. Testimony from the Department of Health and Human Services on the bill Monday didn’t deny the existence of the unused funds, but argued instead that Gideon’s bill “would quickly burn through the current surplus of TANF funds” and be unsustainable after that.

LePage on Tuesday appeared to disagree with DHHS testimony, saying the funds did not exist.

“They’ll have to come down and show me where the money is, seriously, because it’s not there,” he said.

LePage also questioned Gideon’s motivations, claiming that she wanted to keep people poor.

“I think the real truth, if you get her under oath, she’d have to tell you that her priorities are different than the administration’s,” said the Republican governor. “They would like to keep people on welfare so that they can guarantee their votes.

“She wants to keep them under her thumb,” he continued.

LePage addressed a number of other hot button issues in Maine in the Tuesday radio appearance. The governor repeated his call for the Trump administration to overturn the designation of the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, suggesting that his office was not properly invited to participate in the process.

The governor also touted two bills that he’s promoting in the Legislature, one requiring people to report pregnant women who are suspected of using drugs or alcohol, and one penalizing municipalities that don’t seek reimbursement from individuals repeatedly revived by Narcan, a drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

LePage compared the lifesaving drug to EpiPens, saying that it is unfair that people who overdose get Narcan for free while people with deadly allergies sometimes pay hundreds for EpiPens.

“These people have done absolutely nothing — this is a medical condition — but they got to pay for it. But Narcan, you can be on opiates and Narcan you get free shots,” said the governor.

nstrout@timesrecord.com

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