WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senators Angus King (I-ME) and Patty Murray (D-WA, both members of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, are leading a bipartisan group of senators in urging the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to prioritize mental and physical healthcare resources for women veterans who experienced sexual trauma during their service. In a letter to VA Secretary Denis McDonough, Senators King, Murray, and 31 of their Senate colleagues urged VA to remove unnecessary barriers to sexual... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), U.S. Senator Angus King, Chair of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee, questioned the Honorable Ellen Lord, the Vice Chair of the Pentagon’s Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution Reform Committee, about the need for the Department of Defense (DoD) to reevaluate its acquisition process for defense technology and other products. King stressed that many “off-the-shelf” technologies would effectively meet the... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Senator Angus King, announced that 5 Maine entities will receive a combined total of $1,036,469 through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Organic Market Development Grant (OMDG) Program. These grant awards will fund the development of new and expanded organic markets to help increase the consumption and production of organic agricultural commodities. The funding comes during National... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Angus King and Congresswoman Chellie Pingree announced a new multi-million dollar transportation grant that will help improve transportation and upgrade infrastructure in Portland’s Libbytown neighborhood. Funded through the Inflation Reduction Act, the $22,400,000 grant was awarded to the Reconnecting Our Villages: Historic Libbytown Project for the construction of a roundabout and bike paths, the redesign of certain streets, and other infrastructure... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Angus King (I-ME) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND), co-chairs of the American-Canadian Economy and Security (ACES) Caucus, today introduced a bipartisan resolution highlighting the significance of the U.S.-Canadian relationship to promoting peace, expanding economic opportunity, and being prepared to respond to unforeseen events. Launched in June of 2023, the ACES Caucus was created to strengthen the economic and national security relationship between the United States and... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME) is cosponsoring legislation to further protect the fundamental right to vote for all American citizens. The Right to Vote Act would establish the first-ever statutory right to vote in Federal elections, protecting U.S. citizens from state laws that attempt to restrict or limit voter access. The bill would also allow American citizens to sue states for any policy that unduly restricts ballot access. Over the last several years, states across the... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Angus King (I-Maine) are urging the American trade representative to fight for American paper and pulp producers in the global market. In a bipartisan letter to United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai, the Senators expressed serious concern about the potential effects of the European Union Deforestation-free Regulation (EUDR) on the forest products industry, which collectively manufactures $350 billion worth of products per... Continue Reading »
Augusta, MAINE – Governor Janet Mills, U.S Senators Susan Collins and Angus King, and U.S. Representative Chellie Pingreeissued the following statement today in response to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)’s release of its final Wind Energy Area (WEA) for the Gulf of Maine, which excludes the entirety of Lobster Management Area (LMA) 1, vital fishing grounds for Maine’s lobster industry. The decision follows letters from June and November 2023, in which Governor Mills and the Maine... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) has joined his colleagues in calling on the United States Postal (USPS) service to protect mail delivery jobs. In a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, the Senators urge him to stop any changes to the USPS service standards that would result in job losses and further degrade mail delivery performance, especially in rural states like Maine. The letter comes soon after Maine’s postal workers and elected officials voiced their opposition of... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), U.S. Senator Angus King spotlighted the deadly toll that illegal narcotics are taking on Maine people and the nation, as he questioned U.S. Army General Laura Richardson, Commander of the United States Sothern Command (SOUTHCOM), about the U.S. government’s capacity to intercept dangerous drug shipments coming into the United States by sea. In his exchange with General Richardson, Senator King highlighted that, on... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Maine’s Congressional Delegation wrote to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) Secretary Denis McDonough requesting an update on a rule that would allow VA to reimburse Maine Veterans’ Homes (MVH) for nursing home care for veterans with dementia. In the letter, U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King, a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and U.S. Representatives Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden, stressed that the ongoing delay in finalizing the... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Angus King (I-ME) and John Cornyn (R-TX) are urging the Administration to be more nimble in preventing the funding of the Russian war effort via gold sales. In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the Senators argue that the United States needs to take additional steps to prevent Vladimir Putin and his cronies from selling gold to obtain hard cash that funds the Russian war machine. King and Cornyn previously... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, U.S. Senator Angus King pushed top Biden Administration officials on the need to support America’s wildland firefighters. In a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee (ENR), King shared the first-person account of a wildland firefighter and the conditions he endures with Meryl Harrell, Deputy Under Secretary of Natural Resources and the Environment at the Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Joan Mooney, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Congresswoman Chellie Pingree and U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King today joined their Congressional colleagues in welcoming Sweden to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Writing to Swedish Ambassador Urban Ahlin, Pingree, Collins, and King called Sweden’s membership in NATO an “historic achievement” and thanked Sweden for its “commitment to defending democracy.” Sweden’s inclusion in NATO comes after generations of reluctance on the nation’s part to join... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Angus King spoke to top intelligence officials about the immediate need to address the opioid crisis that is causing around 300 American deaths per day, and costing Maine. In an open hearing of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee (SSCI), King asked Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Avril Haines and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray about what the intelligence community is doing to help the government halt the flow of... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), U.S. Senator Angus King, Chair of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee, questioned Dr. Paul Scharre, the Executive Vice President and Director of Studies at the Center for a New American Security, about the need for the Department of Defense (DoD) to shift its research and development (R&D) strategies. Citing hypersonic missiles and directed energy as examples, King suggested the Pentagon should prioritize working... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King have joined bipartisan legislation to ensure that auto manufacturers continue to provide AM radio service in every new vehicle. The AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act would direct federal regulators to require automakers to include AM broadcast radio in their new vehicles at no additional charge. AM radio is especially important for rural communities, with the National Association of Farm Broadcasters (NAFB) finding that two-thirds of... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King and U.S. Representatives Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden announced that the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (Maine DHHS) will receive $2,048,452 through the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Emergency Response Grant program (SERG). This program is designed to meet emergency substance use and mental health needs for communities impacted by a precipitating emergency or... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME) is joining legislation that would help public service providers like first responders and teachers afford homes and live in the communities where they work. The Homes for Every Local Protector, Educator, and Responder (HELPER) Act would establish a new, one-time-use home loan program for law enforcement officers, firefighters, medical first responders, and teachers. A recent study from a group of Maine housing experts found that Maine is now short... Continue Reading »
WASHINGTON, D.C .– During tonight’s State of the Union Address, President Biden is expected to announce his decision to order the U.S. military to establish a temporary port in Gaza to facilitate more humanitarian aid to Palestinians in need. The decision follows the efforts of Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), and Senator Angus King (I-ME), a senior member of SASC, who recently delivered a letter to President Biden urging his Administration to... Continue Reading »
