WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) announced his support for the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act. This comprehensive and bipartisan legislation aims to reduce mandatory minimums for certain non-violent offenders, so law enforcement can devote their resources to targeting individuals such as drug kingpins, drug manufacturers, and violent criminals. Under this bill, judges would be better able to take individual circumstances into account at sentencing so that... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, announced today that the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which establishes Department of Defense policies and authorizes military spending for Fiscal Year 2019, was reported out of the conference committee with a number of provisions that he supported that will benefit Maine. Senator King served as a conferee for the legislation. “At a time when we are... Continue Reading »
BAR MILLS, ME – Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) visited Leavitt’s Mill Free Health Center in Bar Mills. The Center was established fifteen years ago and provides free healthcare services to Maine people with no health insurance, with funding coming through private fundraising and grants. During his visit, Senator King met with the Center’s leaders and patients to discuss the barriers to accessing health care, including the Administration’s recent efforts to... Continue Reading »
FORT FAIRFIELD, ME – Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) attended the Fort Fairfield High School Class of 1967’s tribute to veterans at the VFW Paul-Lockhart Post 6187. This event, which was agreed upon during the class’s 50-year reunion last year, honored the military veterans from the class who served during the Vietnam War era. “Maine has one of the highest percentages of veterans of any state in the nation, and the Fort Fairfield Class of 1967 shows why:... Continue Reading »
FORT FAIRFIELD, ME – Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) visited Buck Farms in Mapleton and Michaud Farms in Fort Fairfield to discuss opportunities for Maine’s agricultural producers to diversify their crop selection and energy production. Buck Farms grows a variety of crops, including potatoes, but has recently focused on barley and hops in order to supply Maine’s growing craft beer industry, while Michaud Farms has built a solar array that provides significant... Continue Reading »
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Michael Bennet (D-CO), James Lankford (R-OK), and Chris Coons (D-DE) led a letter today to President Trump, stating that the default position of the United States should be to keep families together. The letter was signed by a bipartisan group of more than two dozen senators, including Angus King (I-ME). The letter is the first bipartisan statement firmly opposing the family separation policy and urging the... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) released a video on his social media accounts previewing his upcoming weekend in Aroostook County. During his time in the County, Senator King will meet with local farmers and veterans to discuss the challenges they face and celebrate the Maine Potato Blossom Festival with Maine people. The video can be found HERE. On Friday, Senator King will visit Michaud Farms, who grow 900 acres of potatoes and hundreds of other acres of... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) joined a group of his Senate colleagues to introduce a resolution that would authorize Senate Legal Counsel to intervene in the Texas vs. United States lawsuit, which is challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) provisions protecting people with pre-existing conditions. A pre-existing condition is a disease or other illness that started before a person sought medical insurance. The ACA... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) spoke on the Senate floor about the threat climate change poses to Maine’s lobster economy. “Since the 1980's, the poundage of lobsters harvested in Maine has grown 500%,” said Senator King during his speech. “That's the good news. The bad news is it's starting to change, and we may have seen the turning point in this boom…The bad news is when water temperature gets to about 68 degrees, it's like... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) joined with a bipartisan group of his colleagues, including Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), to introduce the Task Force on the Impact of the Affordable Housing Crisis Act. The legislation seeks to better understand and respond to America’s affordable housing crisis by creating a bipartisan affordable housing task force. “For people across Maine, the need to find affordable housing... Continue Reading »
Washington, D.C.—U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Angus King (I-ME) and Representative Bruce Poliquin (R-ME) testified at an International Trade Commission (ITC) hearing this morning about the urgent crisis facing newspapers, book publishers, and commercial printers in Maine and across the United States. Today’s hearing was intended to help the ITC reach a final injury determination in regards to a new tariff imposed on Canadian uncoated groundwood paper – better known as... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) accepted an appointment to the Senate North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Observer Group. This bipartisan group of United States Senators will closely monitor and inform Senators outside of national security committees about defense spending commitments of Alliance members, the process of upgrading military capabilities, the Alliance’s counter-terrorism capability, NATO enlargement and the ability of NATO member states... Continue Reading »
CAMDEN, ME – Today, U.S. Senator Angus King hosted a panel at the Camden Opera House featuring medical professionals, employers and advocates to discuss ways to lessen the stigma surrounding Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) in order to help more people decide to pursue treatment, strengthen our communities, as well as highlighting ways to help people in recovery return to the workforce. In addition to Senator King, the panel featured Dr. Roger Weiss, Chief of McLean’s Division of... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine), the founder and co-chair of the Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer’s disease, and Angus King (I-Maine) announced that The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor has been awarded $873,647 for the year to study the progression and genetic causes of Alzheimer’s. The award is a part of a five-year allocation that will ultimately amount to $4,191,258 by 2023. The funds were awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and... Continue Reading »
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King announced that the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) will award a total of $254,500 to foster economic development, support small businesses, and create jobs in Penobscot, Lincoln, Cumberland, and York Counties. “Federal investments can play an important role in the development of strategies to create employment opportunities, strengthen economies, and assist communities across... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON D.C. – Today, Ranking Member of the Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) spoke during a Subcommittee hearing in support of the Restore Our Parks Act, a bipartisan bill led by Senators King, Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) that aims to address the $12 billion deferred maintenance backlog at the National Park Service (NPS). The consensus proposal is the product of bipartisan... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine), a co-chair of the Senate Broadband Caucus, announced today that he will support bipartisan legislation that aims to improve cellular service in Maine. The Advancing Innovation and Reinvigorating Widespread Access to Viable Electromagnetic Spectrum (AIRWAVES) Act will encourage the federal government to continue to free up spectrum for commercial licensed and unlicensed use and leverage the success of spectrum auctions to help close the... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) announced his support for bipartisan legislation to require congressional approval of tariffs designated under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which grants the President the power to impose tariffs or quotas as needed based on interests of national security. The requirement would apply to all Section 232 actions moving forward, as well as those taken within the past two years – including the recently... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) released the following statement on the President’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court: “It’s troubling that the President’s search for a potential Supreme Court Justice seemed to start and end with a list of names supplied by an outside group,” said Senator King. “Tonight’s selection of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who was included on this list, seems to be the culmination... Continue Reading »
Washington, D.C. – The Firefighter Cancer Registry Act, a bipartisan bill championed by U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King to establish a specialized national cancer registry for firefighters diagnosed with the deadly disease, has been signed into law. The legislation calls on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to monitor and study the relationship between career-long exposure to dangerous fumes and toxins and the incidence of cancer in firefighters to... Continue Reading »
