Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) today voted for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2023, authorizing three Bath Iron Works-built Arleigh Burke destroyers. The defense bill requires the Department of Defense to study and reduce the use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), makes substantial investments in clean energy and… Read more »
WASHINGTON, DC—In a House Appropriations Military Construction and Veterans Affairs subcommittee hearing today, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) questioned Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Denis R. McDonough on how the Department is working to improve Military Sexual Trauma claims processing, as well as the VA’s efforts to improve communication with veterans who may have… Read more »
WASHINGTON, DC—Today, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) voted with the U.S. House of Representatives in passing H.R. 3967, the Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act, which will finally treat toxic exposure as a cost of war by addressing the full range of issues impacting toxic-exposed veterans, including access to earned benefits and health… Read more »
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Angus King (I-ME) and Representatives Chellie Pingree (ME-01) and Jared Golden (ME-02) opposed recently announced plans to close the Maine Veterans’ Homes (MVH) in Machias and Caribou. In a letter to the MVH Board, the Members of Congress urged the board to engage with the congressional delegation, the governor, and state lawmakers to… Read more »
Washington, D.C.—U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King, Representatives Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden, and Governor Janet Mills sent a letter to Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro, urging him to name a DDG-51 destroyer after Master Sergeant Gary Gordon, a Lincoln native and master sergeant in the United States Army’s Delta Force special operations unit. MSG Gordon… Read more »
PORTLAND, MAINE—This morning, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (ME-01) joined U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Deputy Secretary Donald Remy and Portland Mayor Kate Snyder in a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new, state-of-the-art Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC). The 62,500-square-foot, $64 million clinic replaces the VA clinics on Fore Street in Portland and in… Read more »
WASHINGTON, DC—Today, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) voted in the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the bipartisan Guard and Reserve GI Bill Parity Act of 2021, which expands eligibility for the Post-9/11 GI Bill to count every day that a servicemember is paid and in uniform toward benefit eligibility in order to achieve GI Bill parity for National… Read more »
WASHINGTON — The Maine delegation announced today that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has awarded a design for a new Substance Abuse Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program (RRTP) building at Togus. The firm Triple C - The A&E Group, LLC will design the project. The new facility was announced last year after dogged work from Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02), along with… Read more »
WASHINGTON, DC—Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), along with Representatives David McKinley (R-W.Va.) and Brian Higgins (D-NY), today introduced the bipartisan Cold War Service Medal Act. The legislation would recognize veterans who served in the Cold War with medals for their distinguished service. Cold War veterans do not currently have a service medal, unlike veterans… Read more »
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) released the following statement regarding President Biden’s plan to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan by or before the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that drew the United States into its longest war:
“America has been at war so long that sons and daughters who were born after these conflicts began are… Read more »
