“Wings Over Wiscasset” got the blue-sky day organizers had been hoping for. “I'm excited, and very excited to see that everyone who had to show up and do their part showed up,” Wiscasset Municipal Airport manager Ervin Deck said. “It's all coming together great.” About 4,200 people turned out for "Wings," event producer Dennis St. Pierre said August 7. For 39 youth campers from the Wiscasset Parks and Recreation Department, hands-on activities with Mad Science... Continue Reading »
Several efforts have been under way in recent months to convene former governors serving in the Senate into a group that can help move legislation. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, has hosted informal dinners, and Sens. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., are working to create regular gatherings in the fall. The group might be called the Former Governors Caucus (Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., jokingly called it the "recovering governors' support group"). But those who believe in the... Continue Reading »
Sen. Angus King didn’t hold anything back when he shared his opinion of current U.S. trade policy at a recent event in Washington, D.C. He said it’s “bullsh**” that manufacturers in other countries with weaker labor and environmental regulations are able to sell goods into the United States before improving their manufacturing standards, according to a report from ABC News. Scott Ogden, a spokesman for Sen. King, confirmed the quote was accurate. King made the... Continue Reading »
Legislation introduced Tuesday in the Senate would establish a bipartisan commission to identify federal rules that could be dialed back, consolidated or scrapped completely. Sens. Angus King (I-ME) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) say their bill would reduce compliance costs for businesses struggling to operate under current regulations and make the United States more competitive with rival countries. In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, King said business owners in his state have told him... Continue Reading »
NORRIDGEWOCK, Maine — U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman stressed the importance of manufacturing jobs and strengthening the middle class as he spoke to hundreds of employees at a New Balance athletic shoe factory on Monday morning. Froman toured the facility along with New Balance CEO Rob DeMartini, U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, and U.S. Sen. Angus King. They spoke to New Balance associates about their work and why they believe it’s important to save American manufacturing jobs by... Continue Reading »
After passing immigration reform, a farm bill, and this week's student-loan legislation, there's an air of accomplishment in the Senate. And for one freshman senator, it smells like opportunity. Angus King, an independent from Maine, notched his first high-profile victory this week since joining the chamber in January. King, along with a bipartisan group of lawmakers, crafted an agreement to lower student-loan interest rates, which cleared the Senate on an 81-18 vote and appears headed for... Continue Reading »
During his 2012 campaign, U.S. Senate candidate Angus King championed filibuster reform, repeatedly citing the maneuver as contributing to the Senate's gridlock by granting each senator a de facto pocket veto on almost any legislation, nomination or motion he found objectionable. As King and others note, abuse of the filibuster is a relatively recent phenomenon. Lyndon Johnson faced exactly one as Senator majority leader from 1955 to 1961, whereas current Majority... Continue Reading »
Last week, a bipartisan group of four senators, led by Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and including Maine Sen. Angus King, gave some new life to an old idea by introducing a piece of legislation dubbed "The 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act." If you're familiar at all with financial regulatory legislation, then you probably recognize the name Glass-Steagall. It was a landmark law passed in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash and based on a simple premise: The banks that people and... Continue Reading »
After weeks of negotiations, Senators reached a deal Wednesday to retroactively reduce some student loan rates and to change how many federal loan rates are calculated. Interest rates on subsidized Stafford student loans doubled from 3.4 to 6.8 percent July 1. The deal brings that rate back down and ties subsidized and unsubsidized rates to the market, with caps on individual loans. Senators--including Manchin, King, Harkin, Durbin, Alexander, Burr, and Coburn--met at the White House on Tuesday... Continue Reading »
The U.S. Senate failed Monday evening to resolve threats by Democrats to change the chamber’s rules governing presidential appointees, but several senators emerged from the rare closed-door meeting impressed by the exchange — and eager to do it again. “It was a great debate; it was certainly one of the high points of my time here,” said Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who joined the Senate in January. “Hearing people actually stand up and talk and actually... Continue Reading »
Photo: John Shinkle/POLITICO Key players from both sides of the Senate’s student loan debate sat down Wednesday night to hammer out what they hope is a proposal that can finally pass the Senate. The meeting took place just hours after a failed procedural vote Wednesday on a bill that would have extended subsidized student loan rates at 3.4 percent. The rates had doubled on July 1. Negotiators who backed that bill as well as those behind a competing, long-term proposal huddled for a second... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON – Fresh off their trip to the Middle East, Maine Sen. Angus King and Michigan Sen. Carl Levin are calling on the Obama administration to lead a coalition of nations to exert additional “military pressure” on the Syrian government. Levin, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, and King recently traveled to Jordan and Turkey to talk to military and diplomatic officials about how the war in Syria is affecting the region and U.S. interests. King... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON — Congress is expected to resume debate this week on student loan interest rates in an attempt to retroactively fix a rate increase that began July 1 after lawmakers failed to agree on a compromise. Interest rates doubled from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent this month for millions of students who plan to take out new subsidized federal Stafford loans. While the rate increase will affect less than one-third of all student borrowers, the change would result in those borrowers paying,... Continue Reading »
U.S. Sen. Angus King joined a handful of Democrats and Republicans today in backing a proposal to prevent student loan rates from doubling. The jump is due to take place July 1, if Congress fails to act. The Bipartisan Loan Certainty Act would tie the interest rates on student loast to the 10-year treasury note. A second proposal, offered by a group of Democratic senators, would extend the existing 3.4 percent rate for one year while Congress works on a longer-term solution. Jay Field... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON – Sen. Angus King became Prof. King Wednesday afternoon when he offered his Senate colleagues a history lesson on the Battle of Gettysburg and the role that Maine men played in “probably the defining event in the history of this country.” Armed with an easel and markers of various colors, King literally sketched out the positions of Union and Confederate troops on the first major day of battle on July 2, 1863 -- exactly 150 years ago next Tuesday. Not surprisingly,... Continue Reading »
When Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, memorialized the late Sen. William Hathaway, D-Maine, it wasn’t just an instance of a sitting senator paying homage to a predecessor. Such tributes aren’t rare. What made King’s relatively unique was he was also talking about a former boss. “Bill Hathaway taught me a lot about how to do this job. Next to my dad, he was probably the most influential adult in my life when I was a young person. He was honest. He was smart. He was... Continue Reading »
Angus King was just as surprised as everyone else just over a year ago when Sen. Olympia Snowe announced she wouldn’t be seeking a fourth term. “That was a Wednesday,” said the former governor, who served from 1995-2003, and thought he was permanently retired from politics. “I figured I’d have to decide by the weekend.” So King, now 69, followed his usual practice – he gathered former staff and advisers, and asked for their views. “It was not... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON — Maine's New Balance factories — among the few athletic footwear manufacturing facilities left in the U.S. — received good news on two separate fronts last week with the help of the state's congressional delegation.In the House, Rep. Mike Michaudsuccessfully amended an omnibus defense bill to require that the nation's military equip new recruits with sneakers manufactured in the U.S. The armed forces already are required — under a 70-year-old law... Continue Reading »
BIDDEFORD – U.S. Sen. Angus King, I – Maine, and staff members took to the rad today, kicking off a new outreach effort. The senator closed several brick-and-mortar offices around the state on Friday, including one in Biddeford. Instead, his staff is setting up shop in municipal offices and public libraries as part of the senator’s “Your Government, Your Neighborhood”... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON — Maine's U.S. Sen. Angus King and his staff are busy packing and unpacking boxes once again this week — this time to move into permanent digs. After five months in a cramped temporary office in the basement of the Russell Senate Office Building, King and his staff finally were given an official office Tuesday in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, complete with a bronzed nameplate and a Maine state seal adorning the entryway. The wheels of government move... Continue Reading »
