Doing what’s best for Maine
By U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud
When it comes to the reason why I am running for reelection, it’s all about one thing: doing what is best for Maine. That’s the lens I view all of my duties through.
Maine has unique needs that can sometimes take years to solve. And while working on them doesn’t always make national headlines or appear on a certain political party’s agenda, it’s what my focus has been. These needs require keeping your nose to the grindstone and willingness to keep with it. From my experience, I have learned that working together, reaching across the aisle, is the way to get things done.
For example, when I took the gavel of the Veterans Subcommittee on Health, I made it a policy to hold legislative hearings on bills that are referred to my committee, regardless of the party of the person who introduced it. When I started holding hearings on Republican bills, someone asked me why I was doing it. It being Washington, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised with the question. But I told them that no one party has a monopoly on good ideas and that it’s necessary to hear proposals from all sides.
I want to work together not because it sounds good, but because it works. Finding that this persistence and cooperation has paid off over the years, I am proud to deliver results on important local issues and humbled that you have trusted me to do just that.
When I first got to Congress, the Northeast was one of the areas of the country without a coordinated economic development commission. So I went to work on a bill in 2004 that was passed into law a few years later to create one. Now we have a Mainer at the helm of the newly created Northern Border Regional Commission, which is charged with the economic development of the hardest hit areas of our region, including Aroostook, Piscataquis and Washington counties.
When the Defense Financing and Accounting Service office in Limestone was threatened with closure, I worked to convince the BRAC Commission to not only keep it open, but to double employment there. And I worked to secure funding to create the “Knowledge Transfer Alliance,” which is a unique new collaboration between the University of Maine and economic development experts, which is now helping Maine communities and businesses in Aroostook and Piscataquis counties get the expertise and assistance they need to get ahead and create jobs.
When northern Maine’s freight rail service was threatened with abandonment, I brought stakeholders together to push for a solution a year ago. Since then, I made sure to bring federal regulators out of Washington and up to Maine to hold a hearing in Presque Isle. I did this so that they could see firsthand how important the preservation of rail service is to our northern Maine economy. Most recently, the President and Transportation Secretary responded to my request to provide Maine over $10 million to improve the rail line and ensure its viability for future use. This will be a great help to our state, our businesses and the jobs of nearly 2,000 Mainers.
On helping veterans access Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care, I have worked to increase the VA budget so that we can help rural veterans get care closer to home. I worked to establish a VA health care access point in Houlton and a new VA mobile health care clinic, which has been activated and is serving veterans at regional medical centers in Jackman, Bingham, Greenville and Dover-Foxcroft. Two motor coaches, which have spaces for confidential counseling, are currently attached to the Lewiston and Caribou VetCenters to provide additional outreach to area veterans. And most recently, an initiative that I have pushed for is about to come full circle next year – the implementation of a new program to provide VA health care services through a local provider in central Aroostook County.
As the Chairman of the Veterans Subcommittee on Health, I am proud of my work with Maine’s veterans. But I want to continue to build on these local successes so that we can do even more to help those who served our country get what they have earned.
At the end of the day, I don’t think Mainers want Republican ideas or Democratic ideas. I think they simply want their representatives to do what is best for our country and our state. I ask for your support on November 2nd so that I can continue to fight for our state’s priorities and put our local needs first.
