AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - An attempt by Maine Senate Democrats to compromise on a bill that would ban the use of welfare benefits to buy alcohol, cigarettes and lottery tickets failed in the state House on Tuesday.
The amended version of the bill narrowly approved by the Senate on Monday was voted down in the House, 119-26.
The Senate version would ban the use of electronic benefit transfer cards for those products, but reduce the penalty for the first offense from one year without benefits to a warning and education. Further offenses would mean as much as six months off the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.
In a 72-70 vote, the House instead advanced a version that would expand current law - which prohibits EBT cards at liquor stores, strip clubs and casinos - to also include smoke shops. It also backed a bill to have the state study the out-of-state use of EBT cards - a scaled-backed version of Gov. Paul LePage’s effort to ban it.
The measures now head to the Senate for further consideration.
Democrats who supported the amended bill criticized Republicans for not meeting them in the middle.
But Republicans said the measure doesn’t go far enough to provide real reform and criticized Democrats for blocking them from introducing a final amendment they said would have moved them closer to a real compromise. They’re backing LePage’s original proposal, which would follow state guidelines that kick offenders out of the program for life after the third offense.
“If you want to vote for real reform, if you want to show the people of the state of Maine that we can do something in a meaningful way, then let’s do real reform on welfare. Let’s not do a feel good bill that doesn’t even look like real reform,” said House Republican Leader Ken Fredette, of Newport.
Other Democrats have said the proposal would be unenforceable because the state can’t track how people use the benefits after they get cash from ATMs.
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