BRUNSWICK, ME – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) today released the April edition of his podcast, Inside Maine. In the podcast, Senator King interviews Kristina Egan, Executive Director of the Greater Portland Council of Governments (GPCOG), and Peggy Daigle, who has worked as City or Town Manager in several rural municipalities in Maine, most recently serving in Lincoln. The focus of this month’s podcast is the Make it in America Manufacturing Communities Act, bipartisan legislation that would codify into law the Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP) program, which allows communities around the country to compete to receive preferential consideration for federal economic development funds across multiple federal agencies.

In the first segment, Senator King speaks with Kristina Egan about the work GPCOG has done in Greater Portland to leverage its IMCP designation around food and agricultural manufacturing and its success in attracting investments in Maine since the U.S. Department of Commerce selected the region as one of the first 12 “Manufacturing Communities” in May 2014. In the second segment, Senator King speaks with Peggy Daigle about the importance of manufacturing as a critical foundation for economic development in towns in northern Maine, how the regional efforts undertaken by the Economic Development Assessment Team (EDAT) are supporting redevelopment opportunities in former mill communities, and how the Make it in America Manufacturing Communities Act could further bolster Maine's rural economy.

“We’re trying to get through in Washington this idea of making permanent the community manufacturing partnership that’s working so well in southern Maine,” Senator King said. “And the EDAT project, the bringing together of seven federal agencies and the whole industry and communities in northern Maine; I think the important lesson here is that we can do a lot better when we’re coordinating, cooperating, working together than everybody trying to solve their own problem in narrow set of circumstances.”

The “Inside Maine Podcast with Senator Angus King” is a 30-minute program that aims to help keep Maine people informed about issues of the day, how they affect life in the state, and how they factor into Senator King’s work as one of two independents in the U.S. Senate. Senator King’s podcast builds on his existing radio show that airs on Newsradio WGAN in Portland, Maine between 10 and 11 a.m. on almost every last Saturday of the month.

A link to the April Podcast can be found HERE.

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