Chellie Pingree tag:pingree.house.gov,2008-12-04://4 2009-11-20T22:14:02Z Legislative Issues from Representative Chellie Pingree within the last 90 days Movable Type Enterprise 4.24-en President Obama re-Tweets Chellie! tag:pingree.house.gov,2009://4.480 President Obama posts comments made by Congresswoman Pingree minutes after the House passed healthcare legislation on Saturday. President Barack Obama reposted a "Tweet" made by Congresswoman Chellie Pingree after the House passed health reform legislation Saturday. The post went out to Obama's 2.6 million followers. A screenshot is below.

If you would like to follow Chellie yourself, visit www.twitter.com/chelliepingree.

 

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]]> Casting a historic vote for Maine and the nation tag:pingree.house.gov,2009://4.479 "It was the vote my constituents sent me to cast." Watch media coverage of Congresswoman Chellie Pingree's vote for healthcare reform. Media coverage of Congresswoman Pingree's healthcare reform vote.

 

]]> Welcome home tag:pingree.house.gov,2009://4.478 Constituents welcomed Congresswoman Chellie Pingree at the airport to show their support for healthcare reform. See more photos here. Constituents gather at the Portland Jetport on November 8 to welcome home Congresswoman Chellie Pingree after casting a historic vote for healthcare reform the night before.

 

]]> House passes legislation to help small businesses tag:pingree.house.gov,2009://4.467 Congresswoman Chellie Pingree managed the procedural debate on the House floor today for a bill that will help create jobs by making more tools and investment financing and capital available to small businesses. Bill to increase investment, other resources for small businesses passes House
 
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree managed the procedural debate on the House floor today for a bill that will help create jobs by making more tools and investment financing and capital available to small businesses.  The Small Business Financing and Investment Act of 2009 passed the House today.
 
“This is a bill that will support small businesses when they need it most by helping them access the investments they need to survive, to grow, to expand, and to create the jobs that will drive our economic recovery,” Pingree said in her testimony on the House floor today.

Pingree authored an amendment to the bill that would require the Small Business Administration (SBA) to study significantly increasing the size of most loans they guarantee, and report back to Congress.

“One of the things I’ve often heard from businesses in Maine is that SBA loans are too small,” Pingree said.  “It’s time the limits were significantly increased and I hope this is the first step toward accomplishing that.”

Recently President Obama joined the call to increase SBA loans from $2 million to $5 million. 
 
By modernizing the SBA capital access programs for the first time in 10 years, the bill will unlock lending and investment for cash-strapped entrepreneurs, allowing them to expand their operations and hire new workers.
 
Measures in the bill include:

· An amendment by Congresswoman Pingree directing the SBA to study increasing the size of small-business loans it guarantees;

· Supporting $44 billion in lending and investment every year, helping create or save 1.3 million jobs annually;

· Establishing a new public/private partnership at the SBA to invest in fledgling small businesses; and

· Providing increased technical assistance to recipients of microloans, an important source of capital for dislocated workers looking to launch their own businesses.

]]> Congresswoman Chellie Pingree amends Coast Guard legislation to help Portland research facility and local Coast Guard tag:pingree.house.gov,2009://4.459 An amendment by Congresswoman Chellie Pingree will help the Gulf of Maine Research Institute expand its facilities and complete construction of a new bulkhead and wharf that will provide the local Coast Guard station with much-needed berthing space. Amendment paves the way for transfer of land to Gulf of Maine Research Institute in exchange for new berth for Coast Guard
 
The House today passed the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010, which included an amendment written by Congresswoman Chellie Pingree to help the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) expand its facilities and complete construction of a new bulkhead and wharf that will provide the local Coast Guard station with much-needed berthing space.
 
“The Gulf of Maine Research Institute is conducting important research that helps support commercial fishing, as well as educating Maine schoolchildren about the Gulf of Maine and about the importance of science,” Pingree said.  “This legislation will enable GMRI to grow and expand their mission.”
 
“At the same time, this deal will give the Coast Guard the new berthing space they need.  This space will allow Coast Guard boats to be protected from the weather and ready to respond to search and rescue missions during storms,” Pingree said.
 
The Coast Guard agreed to transfer 3.5 acres of land along the Portland waterfront to GMRI in 2002, in exchange for the construction of a $4 million bulkhead that the Coast Guard would use to berth their vessels. The current deal expires this year, and GMRI has raised most, but not all, of the necessary funding to build the bulkhead.  Pingree’s amendment gives GMRI additional time to finish raising funds for the project.
 
“This amendment gives us the time to get this bulkhead project started this year and completed next year.  We’re looking forward to having the Coast Guard here, using our facility,” said Don Perkins, President of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.
 
 

]]> Protecting our working waterfronts tag:pingree.house.gov,2009://4.454 Hear Congresswoman Chellie Pingree talk about the importance of protecting an important part of Maine lives and livelihoods--the working waterfront. Congresswoman Chellie Pingree testifies on the House floor in support of a bill to protect working waterfronts. Find out more about the bill here.

 

]]> Congress holds hearing on working waterfront bill tag:pingree.house.gov,2009://4.451 Rep. Chellie Pingree's legislation would help communities in Maine and other coastal states retain water access Hear the congresswoman speak on the House floor

Rep. Chellie Pingree’s legislation would help communities in Maine and other coastal states retain water access

At a hearing on Capital Hill today, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree testified before the House Natural Resources Committee, talking about the threats to working waterfronts in Maine.

“The pressures facing working waterfronts are real and I have seen these pressures first hand,” Pingree said.  “We are not doing enough.  We need a federal grants program to help states.  Many states have already recognized the need to protect working waterfronts and now it is time for the federal government to recognize them too.”

Pingree’s bill, the “Keep America’s Waterfront Act of 2009” (HR 2584), would create a federal grant program to acquire working piers and other points of waterfront access and provide funding for waterfront planning.  The program is designed to allow states and local communities to support and protect places along the coast where commercial fishermen, boat builders, excursion and tour boat operators and other small businesses operate.
 
BoatU.S., which represents 600,000 boaters around the country, told Pingree that the program outlined in her bill “would be an extremely positive step in preserving access and facilities for recreational boaters and anglers.”   The Conservation Law Foundation said the bill would “preserve and enhance the unique character, culture and economy of our nation’s coastal communities.”  And the National Marine Manufactures Association said the legislation “would ensure the economic health of waterfront communities through the protection, preservation and expansion of the nation’s working waterfronts.” 


Highlighting successes of a pilot program in Maine, Jennifer Litteral, director of marine programs for the Island Institute in Rockland, Maine, also testified in support of the bill.

“We feel that creating a model from this (pilot program) at the federal level will go a long way towards sustaining coastal resilience,” Litteral said in her prepared testimony, “and the future of our nation’s iconic centuries-old tradition of working and living by the sea.”
 
Writing in the New York Post about Pingree’s bill, columnist Ken Moran talked about the threat to working waterfronts:  “Even in this slow economy, developers eye waterfront parcels and water-dependent businesses such as marinas, boat yards, commercial fishing operations and boat builders, and turn them into high-end residential communities.” (See full story here.) 
 
Background statistics:
 
·  Maine’s coastline is over 3500 miles long, yet less then 20 miles support working waterfronts.  These 20 miles support more than 35,000 jobs and bring in hundreds of millions of dollars. 

·  The lobster industry has $250 million worth of landings and indirectly contributes nearly $1 billion to Maine’s economy.

·  Maine’s total economy is valued at $48 billion (estimated 2007 GDP).  Maine’s coastal economy is valued at $29 billion—nearly 60% of the total economy. 


 





]]> Legislation to protect seniors from Medicare premium increase passes U.S. House tag:pingree.house.gov,2009://4.419 Congresswoman Chellie Pingree voted today to block a scheduled increase in Medicare Part B premiums that would have affected approximately one out of every four Medicare beneficiaries.
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree votes to block increase, protecting Social Security recipients from fee increase

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree voted today to block a scheduled increase in Medicare Part B premiums that would have affected approximately one out of every four Medicare beneficiaries. The bill passed the House today by a vote of 406-18 and now goes on to the Senate.

Premiums for Medicare Part B, which pays for doctor’s bills and outpatient care, would increase by nearly $25 a month without this legislation. Over 237,000 seniors and disabled individuals in Maine are enrolled in Medicare Part B.

“As we continue to debate health care reform, it is absolutely essential we protect, preserve and strengthen Medicare,” Pingree said. “One of my top priorities is protecting the Medicare benefits Maine people receive. And the last thing they need is an increase in their premiums.”

Current Medicare Part B premiums are $96.40 a month and will remain unchanged for most beneficiaries. But without the bill passed in the House today, 27% of beneficiaries would see their monthly premiums increase to $120 a month.

]]> Health care reform tag:pingree.house.gov,2009://4.383 People talk to me about health care more than any other issue. I often say that if it’s not the first concern people mention to me, it’s definitely the second. 
Learn about my principals for health reform, and what I'm working on in Congress on this important issue.

]]> Congresswoman Chellie Pingree gives statement on President Obama's address to Congress tag:pingree.house.gov,2009://4.397 "In many ways it’s the same message I have heard from people in Maine all summer—the time has come to bring about the reform we’ve been talking about for so long." Congresswoman Chellie Pingree issued the following statement about President Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress tonight:

“I was pleased to hear the President talk about how we’ve gotten to the point where we need to pass health care reform. In many ways it’s the same message I have heard from people in Maine all summer—the time has come to bring about the reform we’ve been talking about for so long.”

“Maine people have had it with the bureaucracy of insurance companies, skyrocketing premiums and out of pocket expenses and they are tired of living in fear of losing their health insurance. They want us to crack down on the insurance companies and make health care more affordable and accessible.”

 

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