BANGOR, ME – In remarks delivered this morning at Husson University to local business leaders, students, faculty, and staff, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) discussed U.S. economic growth and job gains in Maine, highlighting strategies to strengthen Maine’s economy – including reducing regulatory burdens on small businesses, expanding rural access to high-speed broadband, and increasing access to higher education and making it easier to repay student loans.

“The economy has gained a lot of steam over the past couple of years, but that doesn’t mean there’s still not a long way to go. The good news is that Maine is in a unique position to grow. Great things are happening across the state – from our energy industries to the manufacturing sector. Just a few months ago I was in Ashland as three companies announced new jobs and expanded operations, and earlier this week I toured incredible renewable energy projects in Greenwood and Westbrook. Economic growth like that is the result of smart, innovative people right here in Maine with the talent and ingenuity to develop new products that position our state as a leader in this 21^st century economy.

“The federal government can and should be a supporting partner and resource in those endeavors when it can be, helping businesses grow through targeted investments like the expansion of broadband. As we have seen in Rockport and South Portland, access to affordable, high-speed broadband is one of the keys to our state’s economic future and we must continue to expand its reach into the farthest corners of Maine.

“In other cases, the federal government can help by simply getting out of the way. One of the biggest complaints I hear from Maine business owners and entrepreneurs is that poorly-tailored regulations are restricting economic growth. If we can peel those types of regulations back, as one of my bills would do, we can give businesses the chance to thrive.

“And of course we should not stop thinking about the thousands of students entering college and graduates entering the workforce. Over the years the cost of college has become prohibitively expensive for many families in Maine, and when students graduate, they often carry a mountain of debt on their backs. That’s not fair to them and it’s not good for our economy. It’s an issue that Husson has worked hard on and it’s why I’ve partnered with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to increase access to federal financial aid and to make it easier for borrowers to repay their student loans.

“These are some of the commonsense initiatives that I am working on in the Senate. We have all the right ingredients here in Maine – from our ingenuity to our determination – to take advantage of this opportunity and make great strides into the future. With the support of the federal government, I think we can go a long way.”

Sponsored by Husson University, the breakfast and lecture event Senator King spoke at this morning gives members of the local community the opportunity to hear from leaders serving in government, the private sector, and non-profit organizations to help gain insight into a variety of economic, scientific, cultural and business issues.

The following is background on Senator King’s work in the Senate on some of the issues he spoke about this morning:

Ensuring the Expansion of High-Speed Broadband Internet to Support Economic Development

Regional economic challenges have prompted leaders to work on building new pathways to prosperity, and with the world more interconnected than ever, it is clear that bringing faster, better broadband to rural America must be a top priority to improve infrastructure and global competitiveness. But today, 80 percent of households and businesses in Maine cannot obtain access to the minimum 10 Mbps symmetrical connection speeds set by the ConnectME Authority. Meanwhile, at speeds of 25 Mbps and up, three-quarters of households do not have a choice between providers.

Senator King is supportive of municipalities, like the Town of Rockport and the City of South Portland, advancing ultra-fast broadband projects through public-private partnerships. As a member of the Senate, he has introduced, along with Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), the Community Broadband Act to preserve the rights of cities and localities across the country to follow Maine’s lead in building municipal broadband networks.

In addition, Senator King has been a fierce defender of net neutrality and efforts to protect the economic power of the open Internet, urging the Federal Communications Commission to issue rules, which the FCC Chairman has since outlined, ensuring that the Internet remains free and open to all, not just the highest bidder.

He also continues to support local and state efforts to partner with federal agencies, including the Federal Communications Commission, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Department of Commerce, to continue federal investment in broadband deployment and infrastructure, improvement of broadband connectivity to schools and libraries via modernization of the E-rate program, funding of technical assistance and support for robust funding for associated grant programs.

Reducing Regulatory Burdens on Maine’s Small Businesses

One of the greatest obstacles to economic growth for business owners and entrepreneurs in Maine continues to be overly-burdensome regulations. While federal agencies promulgate thousands of new regulations every year, there is no way to review and eliminate outdated and ineffective regulations that no longer serve their purpose and only cost vital capital that could be better spent elsewhere.

To address the issue, Senator King, along with Senator Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), introduced the Regulatory Improvement Act, which would create a Regulatory Improvement Commission to review outdated regulations with the goal of modifying, consolidating, or repealing regulations in order to reduce compliance costs, encourage growth and innovation, and improve competitiveness. The legislation employs a balanced approach to evaluating existing regulations – one that involves identifying regulations that are not essential to broad priorities like the environment, public health, and safety, but instead are outdated, duplicative, or inefficient. The goal of the Commission is to complement existing processes and to create a mechanism that acts expeditiously and incorporates wide stakeholder input.

Tackling College Affordability and Reforming America’s Student Loan System

According to the Project on Student Debt, Maine students face the 7th highest average debt burden in the country – with the average student borrowing more than $29,000 to finance their education. Such high debt leaves students in a situation to begin their careers with a tremendous weight, which in turn often stifles their ability to pursue a job they want because they instead must take a job that allows them to pay back their loans. The federal government makes this issue all the more challenging through the complexity of its federal student aid programs.

In 2013, Senator King played an integral role in crafting the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act, a bill that lowered interest rates for millions of student borrowers across the country. More recently, he introduced two bills specifically aimed at making it easier for students to access the support they need to pursue higher education and to simplify the process to pay those loans back – often allowing students to save money.

The FAST Act, introduced with Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), would simplify the process of applying for and receiving federal financial aid to attend college, allow year-round use of Pell Grants, discourage over-borrowing and simplify repayments. The Repay Act, introduced with Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.), would simplify the complex maze of federal student loan repayment programs by consolidating the benefits of current repayment programs into two plans: a fixed repayment plan, based on a 10-year period, and a single, simplified income-driven repayment option.

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