Although it's not yet so bad that congressional observers are likely to see flying monkeys circling the capital dome before they again witness a Democrat and a Republican agree on anything, bipartisanship has become exceedingly rare on the Senate and House floors. For that reason, it is encouraging that two Republican senators have united with a Democrat and an independent senator to introduce the Reducing Overlapping Payments Act. The four senators include Tom Coburn, R-Okla., Jeff... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON — The Navy awarded Bath Iron Works a $2.8 billion contract Monday to build four guided-missile destroyers over the next five years, providing some assurance to workers at one of Maine's largest employers. Officials also indicated that BIW will likely get a contract for a fifth destroyer – valued at nearly $700 million – if the Navy can reach an agreement with Congress to cover a funding shortfall. The Navy announced design and construction contracts for nine DDG-51... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Maine’s congressional delegation has introduced legislation to give U.S. shoe manufacturers like New Balance, with three facilities in Maine, an edge with the military. At issue is a loophole in the U.S. military’s acquisition process allowing it to purchase foreign-made athletic footwear. The bills — introduced last week in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives — address what’s known as the Berry amendment, which requires... Continue Reading »
Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Angus King (I-Maine) on Thursday introduced legislation that would require the intelligence community to conduct an independent analysis of drone strikes against U.S. citizens. The senators introduced the bill the day after the administration disclosed that drone strikes have killed four American terrorism suspects overseas, and on the same day President Obama is set to deliver a major speech on counterterrorism policy. King said it is vital to give... Continue Reading »
On Monday, in response to allegations of misconduct at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), U.S. Senator Angus King, Jr. sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew urging him not to overlook the underlying issue: that 501(c)(4) organizations are being improperly utilized to circumvent campaign finance law. "I am appalled by what appears to be an improper focus on identifying conservative 501(c)(4) applications and the undue burdens placed on such organizations in complying with requests for... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON — Maine Sen. Angus King is co-sponsoring a bill to require that the White House obtain an independent analysis before using drones or other lethal force to kill U.S. citizens suspected of working overseas with terrorists. King and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., released their bill on the same day that President Obama is expected to address drone strikes and other counter-terrorism issues in a speech at the National Defense University. The King-Rubio legislation... Continue Reading »
When I spoke to Senator Angus King on Wednesday morning, he was in Aroostook County in northern Maine, en route to a meeting in Van Buren to discuss border issues. He had just finished a meeting on the potato industry—before 9 a.m.—and had plans to travel to Rockland and coastal Maine the following day. Since being sworn in on January 3, King’s schedule has been nothing if not hectic. Each month, he spends three or four weeks fulfilling his legislative duties in... Continue Reading »
The U.S. must be “really careful” in determining its response to evidence from intelligence agencies that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime may have used chemical weapons, said U.S. Senator Angus King of Maine. “We got to be sure that it really is the regime and not the opposition that is planting evidence in order to draw us in,” King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital... Continue Reading »
PORTLAND — U.S. Sen. Angus King quoted philosophers, Founding Fathers and presidents in making his first speech from the floor on Wednesday and touched on the nature of conflict and the need for lawmakers to rise above it to act in the best interests of the American people. Calling for bipartisan action, the independent former governor from Maine told his fellow senators that the greatest accomplishments of the Senate and the federal government were rarely won by a single party. "They were... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON - The rising sun bathed the U.S. Capitol in postcard-perfect light early Thursday morning as U.S. Sen. Angus King walked to work from his two-room apartment a few blocks away. Suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks. "Isn't this amazing?" King asked, staring up in unabashed awe at the nation's political epicenter. "I mean, this is my office! I can't believe it! I can't believe it." Only a few hours later, he was in tears. Emerging from a closed-door meeting with grieving parents of... Continue Reading »
Only a few months into his new role as a U.S. senator representing Maine, Angus King seems to be easing into the Washington D.C. scene – and is already making a difference. King said he’s been making the rounds to try and meet each senator personally, simply to introduce himself – despite the fact that some of them are wary that he must have an agenda. He’s also arranged one dinner meeting so far with a group of senators who are former state governors, and plans to... Continue Reading »
LEWISTON — Access. It's why independent U.S. Sen. Angus King chose to caucus with the Democrats when he took office, and it's why King has faith in the future of the United States. "In one word, it's the secret to success in America," King told a group at the University of Southern Maine-L-A College on Tuesday afternoon. "In most places around the world, people don't have access to money, to power, to opportunity unless they are born to it," King said. "Your future was defined by your... Continue Reading »
PORTLAND – Maine's independent U.S. Sen. Angus King, a member of both the Intelligence and Armed Services committees, has been getting plenty of security intelligence since he took office in January, much of it involving the nuclear capabilities of Iran and North Korea. But King said his biggest security fear might be a cyberattack. "Every hearing I've been in this spring, the top national security people have said that the next Pearl Harbor is going to be cyber. That's the most serious... Continue Reading »
As he works on proposals to increase oversight of drone strikes on U.S. citizens, Sen. Angus King has been reading the Federalist Papers. Mr. King, a Maine independent who caucuses with the Democrats, has emerged as a leading proponent of creating some sort of oversight mechanism to review presidential decisions to target U.S. citizens in counter-terrorism strikes. To guide his decision making, Mr. King has been reading the writings of James Madison. “The framers were very smart... Continue Reading »
Last week, Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King sent President Barack Obama a letter urging him to bring congressional leaders together to avert the latest self-induced fiscal crisis: sequestration. At stake are more than 1.2 million jobs nationally, including more than 7,000 jobs in Maine. The clock is ticking. Unless Congress and the president reach a deal by this Friday, automatic cuts to defense and discretionary domestic spending will go into effect. Maine will be hit hard on a number of... Continue Reading »
Washington (CNN) -- Angus King knows a thing or two about deep political divides. Raised near the shadow of Robert E. Lee's Virginia home, Maine's freshman senator today lives down the street from the house once owned by Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, the Union hero who oversaw the formal surrender of Lee's army at Appomattox. Chamberlain ordered his men "to salute the Confederate soldiers as they were surrendering their arms," King told an audience in 2009. "This was an unbelievably controversial... Continue Reading »
The local community lost nearly 5,000 jobs when the Naval Air Station Brunswick (NASB) closed in May 2011. Now, U.S. Senators Angus King (I-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME) hope to repair the damage through co-sponsored legislation to expand the Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZones), including the NASB. HUBZones helps businesses within the program receive preferential access to federal procurement opportunities. HUBZones are areas demonstrating economic needs, including... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON — By an 88-12 vote, Cape Elizabeth lawyer William Kayatta Jr. on Wednesday became the first judicial nominee of President Barack Obama’s second term — and the first in seven months — to win U.S. Senate confirmation. It has been a long time coming. Obama first nominated Kayatta, 59, to fill a vacancy on the Court of Appeals for the 1st District on Jan. 23, 2012. After a March hearing during which Kayatta won bipartisan praise, the Senate Judiciary Committee in... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON — Engaging a high-ranking Obama administration official for the first time in an extensive public discussion of the use of drones for targeted killing, members of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday pressed John O. Brennan, President Obama’s nominee for director of the Central Intelligence Agency, about the secrecy of the strikes, their legal basis and the reported backlash they have produced in Pakistan and Yemen. Adding a new element to the roiling debate, the... Continue Reading »
Friday morning began with newly elected Independent Senator Angus King addressing students, teachers, judges, and guests in a convocation for the Center of Civic Education "We The People" program competition at the Glickman Library at University of Southern Maine. Quoting the concept that "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely," Senator King compared governmental power to zucchini and the Constitution to a vegamatic designed by the framers to "slice and dice" power to all the... Continue Reading »
