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State employee union members, employees and supporters march past the State House on Monday as they protest day three of a state shutdown in Augusta.
House Minority Leader Kenneth Fredette, of Newport, speaks in opposition to the budget in the House of Representatives on Monday.
People protest inside the State House in Augusta on Monday over the state shutdown. Staff photo by Brianna Soukup
State employees pack the stairs in the State House Hall of Flags on Monday as they work to keep pressure on lawmakers and Gov. Paul LePage to get a budget approved and end the government shutdown.
State employees and supporters march Monday in front of the Blaine House in Augusta on their way to the State House to protest day three of a state shutdown.
House Minority Leader Kenneth Fredette, of Newport, right, and House Assistant Minority Leader Ellie Espling, of New Gloucester, watch the tally on a vote board during a vote on the state budget in the Maine House Chamber on Friday. Both Fredette and Espling voted against the bill but the measure passed the House 87-60. The budget is still uncertain because the vote is shy of the two-thirds majority needed to for enactment.
“This budget that they have has no prayer,” Go. Paul LePage said Friday morning prior to the House vote. “And if they are hell-bent on bringing this budget down then we will shut down at midnight tonight and we will talk to them in 10 days.”
People line the hall leading in to the House chamber at the State House in Augusta on Friday morning, chanting and holding signs as legislators entered.
Speaker of the House Sara Gideon, D-Freeport, talks with the media in her office at the State House in Augusta on Friday. Gideon was trying win more votes in the Maine House to get the budget proposal supported by a two-thirds majority so it can survive a likely veto by Gov. LePage.
During a news conference at the State House on Friday, Gov. Paul LePage said he would not sign any budget that includes a tax increase.
Senate Minority Leader Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, enters Gov. Paul LePage's office on Friday to talk with the governor in an attempt to reach a compromise on the state budget.
Senate Minority Leader Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, holds a news conference in the Maine Senate Chamber on Friday. Jackson, D-Allagash, said if LePage opposes a lodging tax increase in the budget he would author a bill to eliminate the tax and replace the revenues it would generate with surplus revenues. The lodging tax, with the increased rate, generates only $21 million, Jackson said.
Senate President Mike Thibodeau, of Winterport, listens to discussion about the budget bill in the Senate Chamber on Friday. The Maine Senate voted 34-1 in favor of the budget bill and sent it back to the House.
Sen. Mark Dion, D-Portland, casts his yea vote for the budget bill in the Senate chamber on Friday. The Senate passed the budget 34-1 and sent it back to the House for another vote.
On day two of government shutdown, Rep. Owen Casas (I-Rockport) took it upon himself to sweep around the State House