Mainers in D.C. Treated to Eggs and Issues
BREAKFAST
Bangor Daily News
Drew FitzGerald
Boston University Washington News Service
Feb. 12, 2009
WASHINGTON – Eggs, bacon and orange juice made up the menu for the Maine State Society’s annual congressional breakfast Thursday, but for the roughly 40 Mainers-in-exile attending, there was no escape from the economy, deficits and the duty of serving the nation’s veterans.
As Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, put it, “There’s a lot on our plate.”
Under the gilded ceiling of the Russell Senate Office Building banquet hall, the Maine crowd sat to hear three of their members of Congress exchange stories about their difficult work in Congress over the past month.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she was tired but pleased with the general outline of the stimulus bill that she and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine – who did not attend the breakfast for scheduling reasons – spent the last two weeks crafting.
“If you think my eyes look a little like slits, there’s a reason for it,” Collins said. “I’ve literally been negotiating night and day [on] this stimulus package.”
Calling the economic climate facing the country “grave indeed,” Collins pointed to the record job losses and pay cuts that swept the country last month, including the furloughs of 140 workers at a paper mill in East Millinocket.
“It is against that backdrop that I got involved with the economic concerns in our country,” she said.
Michaud, who said he once worked at the same paper mill that scaled back its production, offered fewer optimistic words for the stimulus bill. The fiscally conservative Democrat also called on Congress to do more to reduce spending, close the budget gap and lessen the trade deficit between U.S. exports and imports.
“The biggest deficit we have is [in] the leadership in this country,” Michaud said. “We have to start focusing on the long-term problems this country will be facing.”
On Tuesday, Michaud joined a handful of other fiscally conservative “Blue Dog” Democrats to voice their concerns about the widening federal budget deficit to President Obama. The president was receptive and told the members that he would rather get the budget “right” in one term than win a second term without fixing the fiscal problems facing the nation, according to Michaud.
Michaud also stressed that the government must address the increased number of soldier suicides reported over the past year with a better-funded health care system to help members of the military deal with mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
Michaud, chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Health, joined other members of Congress Thursday to announce identical drafts of the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act designed to provide funds, in advance of this year’s budget, for health care of former service members.
Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, a freshman elected in Maine’s 1st District last November, said she was still learning her way around the Capitol’s countless winding hallways. She took the morning to introduce herself to Washington-based Mainers and tout such initiatives as renewable energy and improved health care.
“In Maine, it would make a tremendous difference to have some sort of universal health care,” Pingree said, not only for state residents but also for small businesses coping with rising health care costs.
Even as a former speaker of the Maine House, Pingree said being recognized in many parts of the state took her by surprise.
“People stop me on the street and say, ‘You got elected with Barack Obama!’” she said.
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