One of the people listening to Gov. Paul LePage outline his budget---a measure he characterized as a "jobs bill"--was someone who'd like to do exactly as the chief executive suggested. Brenda Akers of Lewiston says she has a college degree and has been without full-time work for more than two years. She says her own job search has grown frustrating--even though she thinks she has a lot to offer an employer.

One of the people listening to Gov. Paul LePage outline his budget---a measure he characterized as a "jobs bill"--was someone who'd like to do exactly as the chief executive suggested. Brenda Akers of Lewiston says she has a college degree and has been without full-time work for more than two years. She says her own job search has grown frustrating--even though she thinks she has a lot to offer an employer.

"The last thing he said was, 'If you can work get a job,'" Akers says. "I can work. I want a job! I didn't hear in the middle of there where to apply except I got the impression I shouldn't apply at the state."

Akers, who is also a board member with the Maine Peoples' Alliance, says she is not currently on welfare. She lives with her 11-year-old son and his father--trying to get by on the limited income her partner makes--and says they've fallen well behind on their electric bill.

Jesse Graham, the head of the Maine Peoples' Alliance, issued a statement calling the governor's remarks "downright offensive to people searching for work in a difficult economy." He said the speech was long on rhetoric and short on ideas for improving the economy.

What is clear is that Gov. LePage wants to reform welfare by limiting eligibility to five years; asking MaineCare recipients to contribute to the cost of their state-sponsored health care and eliminating what the governor calls "instant eligibility" for welfare benefits by people who are legally residing in this country, but who are not yet citizens.

"First of all, I don't think 'instant eligibility' is an accurate description. People have to apply for their program. There are eligibility requirements that have to be confirmed," says Sara Gagne Holmes, executive director of Maine Equal Justice Partners, an advocacy group that works on policy issues affecting low income people across the state. "It's not like you go into an office, you say: 'I need it.' and you walk out with a check. That just doesn't happen, and I'm not sure why we're targeting people who are here legally."

Gov. LePage made a point of saying that Maine is one of the few places in the country that offers "welfare on day one" for legal non-citizens. He said his budget will save $20 million by ending that practice alone. Gagne-Holmes is skeptical.

"I haven't seen the details but that seems like an awful lot of money for that population," she says. Gagne-Holmes points out that Maine's Temporary Aid for Needy Families program, known as TANF, costs $30 million dollars a year--or just one percent of the state budget--so she says $20 million from that seems high.

The governor's welfare reform package also includes mandatory drug testing of recipients who have been convicted of drug offenses. In his prepared remarks, the governor said helping people move to independence and work means addressing the barriers caused by addiction. But the governor did not say whether he intends to spend money for treatment and recovery programs in Maine, which has the nation's highest rate of people entering recovery for drug addiction.

Kit St. John, of the progressive advocacy group The Maine Center for Economic Policy, says he was interested to hear the governor say he'll increase state aid to K-12 education. But he took issue with the governor's plan to lower the tax rate.

"To add to our $840 million shortfall by extending additional tax cuts to, at least in part, some of the most well-off people in our state at the same time as taking away benefits from some of the most vulnerable households in the state is just a bad policy choice," St. John says. "It doesn't add up. It doesn't make sense."

St. John also questions the wisdom of forgoing state bonding. He says that will have consequences--like seeing roads and bridges in disrepair.

One group that is breathing a little more easily after hearing the budget plan is the Maine State Employees Association. Executive Director Chris Quint says state workers had heard rumors of massive layoffs. But the governor said that will not happen. And he said there will be no furlough days for state workers, no across-the-board cuts and no gimmicks. "Overall we are encouraged that he didn't go down the road we thought he was going to," he says.

Still, Quint says the MSEA wants to know more about the governor's retirement incentive for state workers and his plan to reduce state retirees' cost-of-living adjustment at a time when the cost of everything is going up. The average pension for state workers is about $19,000 a year.

"The other key component to put into this is that state workers never paid into Social Security. So they don't receive a Social Security benefit. This is their Social Security. This is their only retirement," Quint says.

The governor did say he wants to uphold the promises made to state retirees and Quint says that's also an encouraging sign. But he's also proposing to raise the state retirement age from 62 to 65, and Quint says he'll have to survey members to see how they feel about that.