Press Releases

Following a letter written by the Maine Delegation, the Small Business Administration (SBA) approved a disaster declaration making the state eligible for the Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) program.  U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King and Representatives Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden expressed their strong support for the request made by Governor Janet… Read more »

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) released the following statement about her absence during the bipartisan passage of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act: “Last night the House overwhelmingly voted to approve the Families First Coronavirus Response Act to make coronavirus testing free for most patients, secure paid emergency leave, enhance… Read more »

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (ME-01) today announced changes to operations in her three congressional offices in order to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The changes include:   The physical location of her Waterville and Portland offices in Maine as well as her Washington, DC office will be closed to the public beginning Monday March… Read more »

Today, US Representatives Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), Jim McGovern (MA-02), Barbara Lee (CA-13), Marcia Fudge (OH-11),  Jahana Hayes (CT-05), Deb Haaland (NM-01), and  Mark Pocan (WI-02) introduced the Ensuring Emergency Food Security Act, new legislation to combat the economic impacts of the coronavirus by: Temporarily… Read more »

Following Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine)’s questioning of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue about how his agency would provide states with flexibility to alter how school meals are provided amid the coronavirus outbreak, the USDA has approved the Maine Department of Education’s (DOE) emergency school meals program waiver. “For the one in five… Read more »

Today, during a House Appropriations Committee hearing, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) questioned US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue about how the nation’s school meals program would be impacted by the outbreak of COVID-19. Across the nation, schools are taking proactive steps to prevent spread of the coronavirus by temporarily closing their doors.… Read more »

In a House Agriculture Committee hearing, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) questioned United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue about the USDA’s new Agriculture Innovation Agenda, which sets the goal of increasing U.S. agricultural production by 40 percent while cutting the environmental footprint of U.S. agriculture in half by 2050. Pingree—who… Read more »

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (ME-01) welcomed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)’s announcement that 35,000 additional H-2B visas will be released but expressed frustration that the number is still is not enough to meet the needs of Maine’s seasonal businesses and that it contains new measures that could limit Maine employers’ access to needed workers. Pingree said as a… Read more »

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) released the following statement about H.R. 6074, a bicameral, bipartisan emergency supplemental appropriations bill to address the coronavirus outbreak: “Although Maine does not have any confirmed cases of coronavirus, we must be prepared to respond to this growing public health problem. This bipartisan funding bill demonstrates that both… Read more »

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) today sent a letter to General Services Administration (GSA) head Emily W. Murphy requesting that the agency delay the opening of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Scarborough until the local community has the opportunity to weigh in on the facility. Pingree noted that Scarborough residents and stakeholders only learned of the… Read more »