Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King joined a bipartisan group of Senators in sending letters urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide financial relief and direct payments to farmers who have suffered from losses amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The recently-passed Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act made $9.5 billion available for USDA to provide support for agricultural producers who are struggling because of the... Continue Reading »
BRUNSWICK, ME – Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) led a group of 20 Senators in a letter to Senate leadership to call for increased investments in mental and behavioral health in future COVID-19 relief legislation. Reports have shown Americans are experiencing negative effects on their mental health due to the coronavirus pandemic – which could pose short- and long-term dangers to their well-being. In their letter, the Senators highlighted the threat COVID-19 poses... Continue Reading »
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King announced that the State of Maine has been awarded $10,953,470 to provide child care assistance for low-income families, health care sector employees, first responders, sanitation workers, and other workers deemed essential, and to support child care providers. This funding, authorized by the CARES Act they voted for, was awarded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and... Continue Reading »
BRUNSWICK, ME – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) spoke with more than a hundred coastal Maine business leaders on a tele-conference to hear firsthand about the implementation of the CARES Act, the most pressing challenges facing the region’s businesses, and discuss the future economic impacts they are facing due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The call was hosted by the Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce (and can be heard by clicking here), and also featured Maine Department of... Continue Reading »
BRUNSWICK, ME – Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) was appointed to serve on a task force focused on charting a safe path to re-opening the American economy by President Donald Trump. The bipartisan, bicameral committee will work to determine the best possible plan to re-open the American economy in a way that supports long-term public health and spurs much-needed economic activity. In his below statement, Senator King emphasizes that he will push the committee to put health outcomes... Continue Reading »
BRUNSWICK, ME – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) joined a bipartisan group of 38 colleagues requesting that any future legislation to address the coronavirus pandemic includes support for victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. The senators express concern that service providers are reporting that abusers are further isolating their victims, withholding financial resources, and refusing medical aid; rape crisis centers are seeing increased need for services, and many... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Angus King (I-Maine) pressed the administration to speedily release funds from the Emergency Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Grant Program, which was established in the CARES Act to make sure small businesses facing immediate needs could quickly access the direct financial support they need to survive. In a letter to Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Jovita Carranza, Senators Collins and King raise their... Continue Reading »
WASHINTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Angus King (I-Maine), along with colleagues in both the House and the Senate, wrote to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) urging the Administration to resume premium processing for physicians seeking employment-based visas. Doctors on these visas increase access to healthcare, especially in rural areas, through the Conrad 30 program, which allows foreign medical school graduates who have been trained in the United States... Continue Reading »
Washington, D.C.—Members of the Maine and New Hampshire Congressional Delegations wrote to the Department of Defense (DOD) to express their concern with an updated policy that reduces the paid administrative leave options available to public shipyard workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The updated guidance creates impediments to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard workers staying home if necessary to protect public health or the health of a vulnerable family member during this public health... Continue Reading »
Washington, D.C. — All four members of Maine’s Congressional Delegation wrote to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Peter Gaynor today to request assistance in helping Maine more easily access personal protective equipment (PPE) secured by the COVID-19 Supply Chain Stabilization Task Force. U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King and Representatives Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden... Continue Reading »
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King announced that the Maine Hospital Association has been awarded $468,448 to aid Maine hospitals in preparing to treat COVID-19 patients. This funding, authorized in the CARES Act they voted for, was awarded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP).“Doctors, nurses, first responders, and other medical professionals are working on the front lines to combat the COVID-19... Continue Reading »
BRUNSWICK, ME – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) joined a group of 34 Senators in a letter pressing the Department of Labor to ensure workers Congress intended to be covered by the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program receive the benefits they deserve. In the letter, the senators request that DOL clarify its guidance pertaining to workers who have been diagnosed with coronavirus without receiving a test, workers with COVID-19 who take time off of work, workers without child care... Continue Reading »
BRUNSWICK, ME – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) joined a group of 34 Senators in a letter pressing the Department of Labor to ensure workers Congress intended to be covered by the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program receive the benefits they deserve. In the letter, the senators request that DOL clarify its guidance pertaining to workers who have been diagnosed with coronavirus without receiving a test, workers with COVID-19 who take time off of work, workers without child care... Continue Reading »
BRUNSWICK, ME – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) joined a group of 45 Senate colleagues in calling on Vice President Mike Pence and the Coronavirus Task Force, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to conduct a national inventory of the coronavirus diagnostic testing supply, to publicly release data on testing results, and to provide a detailed plan and timeline for addressing future shortages and gaps in the testing supply chain.“Over three weeks after President Trump... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Angus King (I-Maine), and U.S. Representatives Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Jared Golden (D-Maine) wrote a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue, urging the department to directly purchase raw Maine potatoes from farmers. As the pandemic has disrupted much of daily life and closed or restricted restaurants and food service facilities across the nation, Maine potato farmers have lost nearly half of... Continue Reading »
BRUNSWICK, ME – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) today joined a group of 47 Senators in a letter raising serious concerns about the Administration’s reliance on private companies to distribute desperately needed medical supplies during the Coronavirus pandemic. Although the President has declared a national emergency and mobilized the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help distribute supplies, FEMA is currently relying on private companies to distribute masks, N95 respirators,... Continue Reading »
Washington, D.C.—U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King announced today that Maine hospitals and other health care providers will receive an immediate infusion of $145,763,812 to bolster their efforts in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The funding distributed today represents the first $30 billion of the $100 billion for medical providers that was included in the CARES Act that Senators Collins and King voted for.“This funding is vital to protecting the health and safety of... Continue Reading »
BRUNSWICK, ME —Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) and 21 Senate colleagues sent a letter to Acting Director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Russell Vought, calling on the executive branch to indefinitely extend public comment periods, postpone public hearings, and pause any new administrative rulemaking actions, unless those actions are explicitly required for the coronavirus response and recovery, until the threats of the current crisis have subsided. In doing so,... Continue Reading »
BRUNSWICK, ME – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) joined a bipartisan group of 19 Senators to urge the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to consider the needs of rural hospitals and hospitals with high percentages of Medicaid and Medicare patients as HHS distributes the $100 billion healthcare fund included in the CARES Act. In their letter, the Senators request an equitable distribution of funding from Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund to small rural hospitals,... Continue Reading »
BRUNSWICK, ME –U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) joined Senators Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) – all who formerly served as governors – in calling on Vice President Mike Pence to work with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to issue guidance to states on how they can use funding from the CARES Act to address budget shortfalls due to the impact of the coronavirus epidemic. The CARES Act that Congress passed into law includes $150... Continue Reading »
