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Passengers crowd a Red Line platform on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2015. The MBTA has suffered massive delays after recent snowstorms.

(SHIRA SCHOENBERG / THE REPUBLICAN)

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Senate passed its version of Gov. Charlie Baker's budget fix plan on Thursday by a voice vote after a lengthy debate, much of it focused on transportation funding.

Baker's proposal, which was passed by the Massachusetts House on Wednesday, cuts $40 million from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, including $14 million from the MBTA. The cuts are in line with the level of cuts Baker is making to other state agencies.

The cuts would come as the MBTA has faced enormous problems dealing with recent snowstorms, with trains breaking down repeatedly, massive delays and the MBTA shutting down subway service because it could not handle the cold and snow. Baker, a Republican, said the MBTA cuts will not affect service, but some senators questioned that assertion.

"We're assured by the governor that $14 million won't have an impact on service. It won't have an impact on Red Line service because there is no Red Line service today," said State Sen. John Keenan, D-Quincy, whose constituents were being bused along Red Line routes Thursday because a section of that subway line was shut down.

The Senate and House passed identical bills. While some senators were going to propose amendments, they were all withdrawn during the floor debate. The bills will face additional procedural votes before going to Baker for his signature.

The bills were very similar to a plan Baker proposed to fill a mid-year budget gap. The only substantive differences to Baker's plan were that the Legislature's bills restored $12 million in spending to sheriffs and public defenders, since those accounts are running deficits, and they eliminated language that would have given Baker authority to unilaterally restructure MassHealth benefits.

Baker said in collaboration with legislative leaders, "We were able to put the Fiscal Year 2015 budget deficit behind us in an overwhelmingly bipartisan manner that protected funding for our local communities without additional burdens to taxpayers."

Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, said the cuts are not expected to hurt public transportation services.

"Given the recent MBTA problems with all of the snow and the breakdowns across the state, I can understand ... the hesitance in making these cuts to transportation," Spilka said. "However, the severity of our fiscal situation means that nearly all agencies are taking a cut."

Spilka echoed the Baker administration's assurances that the MBTA cuts come from a hiring freeze, administrative efficiencies and unexpected revenues. "The governor repeatedly assured us that these fiscal changes will not affect direct services," Spilka said.

But some lawmakers said the transportation funding is necessary. "Fourteen million dollars is a heck of a lot of money to them, when you're asking MBTA riders to stand out in the cold," Keenan said.

State Sen. Thomas McGee, D-Lynn, chairman of the Joint Committee on Transportation, said there is a "huge, continuing problem" in Massachusetts of funding transportation infrastructure.

"Clearly, the challenges we face are not only on the MBTA but statewide in terms of roads and bridges and infrastructure that are really struggling on the heels of limited investment or non-investment," McGee said. "Wait until you see what the roads look like when the snow disappears."

While the senators agreed on the problem, there was little consensus on a solution. Some Democrats tied the lack of transportation funding to a lack of taxes. The Legislature passed a transportation funding bill in 2013, but parts of that package were later repealed – the Legislature repealed a tax on software companies while the voters repealed the indexing of the gas tax to inflation.

State Sen. Jason Lewis, D-Winchester, criticized Baker for supporting the ballot question that repealed gas tax indexing. Baker has said he does not want to raise taxes and believes the governor and lawmakers should have to vote for every increase.

"I'm frustrated in the lack of leadership by the new governor," Lewis said. "The passage of that ballot question will cost the commonwealth more than $1 billion over the next decade. That's $1 billion that would otherwise have been available to improve our transportation infrastructure, including desperately needed repairs and maintenance at the MBTA."

But Republicans said there are things lawmakers can do other than raising taxes. State Sen. Robert Hedlund, R-Weymouth, urged Democrats not to turn transportation into "a political football." He said Republicans have offered solutions that do not raise taxes, such as limiting expansion of the MBTA until maintenance needs are addressed.

State Sen. Mark Montigny, D-New Bedford, criticized members of his own party for spending too much money. And he criticized the MBTA for not managing its budget efficiently. "We gave the T direction to sell naming rights on their property," Montigny said. "Tens of millions of dollars was left on the table because the T is not acing like the quasi-private agency that it should."