00:00It's a great pleasure to be here today in Winthrop and hear about the detailed plans that the Communications Dispatch
00:12Center has for using 1.16, I like to round it up to 1.2 million dollars that I was
00:24able to secure to update the Dispatch Center.
00:29This center serves eight communities, and that makes it absolutely vital for public safety in this area. It handles calls
00:40for police assistance, ambulances, and fire assistance.
00:46So this is absolutely a vital public safety project. We've worked together as a team, and the town of Winthrop
00:57has done its part in coming up with a match.
01:02It will allow for a total redo of the Dispatch Center and also a new cell tower, which actually will
01:12be the first stage of the project.
01:16The current one is too low, and it's not higher than the trees that surround it, so the reception, as
01:25you can imagine, is not that great.
01:27In addition, ultimately, we want to make sure that our first responders have the equipment with them that they need
01:39in order to take calls.
01:41So it's really a three-part project, and it's going to serve eight towns in this area.
01:50They've done a great job, led by the town of Winthrop, and I think this is a really great example
01:58of where an investment of federal dollars can make a real difference in the public safety of communities in Kennebec
02:08County.
02:09Chief, would you like to add anything?
02:12Again, the eight communities that we serve, roughly, we're talking 18,000 people within these eight communities that rely on
02:21Winthrop to dispatch their fire, rescue, and two communities for police services.
02:28So for Winthrop to adopt this and take this on by themselves, it's very hard on the community, the taxpayer.
02:40So when town manager reached out to Senator Collins' office, and she jumped on board, this was about two and
02:46a half years ago, and we missed it in the first round, and she walked us through it, got us
02:53into the second round,
02:54and here we are today with that much-needed resource, money, to make this project happen, and it's a much
03:02-needed project.
03:04It's not a want, it's a need, because our infrastructure at our tower site is failing, and for this community
03:12to take it upon themselves monetarily,
03:15it was just not feasible to get it done any time in the future, and our equipment is failing daily.
03:21And I don't say this lightly, when our vendor says, I'm going on eBay to try to find parts to
03:28fix the equipment, and we can't find it anymore, you're living on borrowed time,
03:33this right here couldn't have been timed any better to move forward with the project.
03:39And we just thank Senator Collins and our office for making this possible for our communities, and for our EMTs
03:48and firefighters and law enforcement,
03:50whose safety is so important, because when you get out into the Mount Vernons, the Viannas, and you get on
03:55the backside of the mountains,
03:57and there is absolutely no communication, radio communication, and the dispatchers are always concerned about the safety of their people
04:04they've dispatched out there.
04:06It's a primary priority. So this is going to help alleviate some of that stress on our dispatchers,
04:13and allow us to communicate better with the people out who are doing the jobs, out on the road doing
04:18the jobs.
04:20Senator?
04:21Yes.
04:22So I've met a number of voters who used to support you, but no longer do, and it's not even
04:28that they dislike you, they just can't stand Trump.
04:32And you say, you know, that you've split with the president on XYZ. That's not enough for some of them.
04:37And I'm curious, and I'm sure you talk to these people, what do they tell you you could have done
04:41differently,
04:42or could do differently, to keep the president from weighing you down in this race?
04:47Well, first of all, there are several major issues where I've differed from the president.
04:53Most notably, his signature legislative accomplishment, the big, beautiful bill, which I voted against,
05:02but was able to negotiate the inclusion of a $50 billion fund for rural health care.
05:12That is particularly important to the state of Maine.
05:16Our first allotment was $190 million, and Governor Mills has already used part of that money to save the Panofska
05:30Community Health Clinics,
05:32which were on the verge of going under, and thus 55,000 people in the area would not have access
05:41to the health care that they have.
05:43So that's a very good example.
05:47Another was my vote, which was the decisive vote in the first Trump administration to save the Affordable Care Act.
05:58And that was important as well for people who lacked insurance.
06:04But what I find that people are more interested in is the question, who can do more for the people
06:14of Maine?
06:15And I think when I frame the question that way, the choice becomes very obvious.
06:24I don't want to get into a political press conference because we're on, this is a federal stop, and we're
06:34on the town hall's grounds.
06:40But I'd be glad to talk to you further about that.
06:43But I think that's what it boils down to.
06:46And since I'm the first Maine senator in nearly a century to chair the Appropriations Committee,
06:55and I've been able to bring $1.5 billion to Maine to support projects just like this one,
07:04that's a pretty powerful argument, particularly in a highly taxed state like Maine.
07:11Channel 6, go ahead.
07:15Senator, good afternoon.
07:15We're here for another earmark today.
07:17Yesterday you emphasized your role on appropriations as well.
07:20But you've also been able to do damage control for the Trump administration here.
07:23IRS centers closing Canadian tariffs, ending the ice surge here in Maine.
07:27Troy Jackson is saying that after Election Day, the Trump administration is no longer going to take your calls
07:32because they don't need to work to get you reelected.
07:34What's your response to that?
07:35Well, that's an absurd assertion.
07:39Of course, they're still going to take my calls.
07:42I mean, we can go way back to when the Trump administration, in its first days of office, practically,
07:52canceled the Sea Grant program, which was so important to our coastal communities,
07:59our fishermen, our lobster men and women.
08:02And I worked with the Secretary of Commerce and with the University of Maine to modify Maine's grant application
08:11and got the Sea Grant program reinstated, a program that the University of Maine had run for decades, for decades.
08:22There are examples after examples of that.
08:26As chair of the Appropriations Committee, I worked to put together a bipartisan coalition to block $170 billion worth of
08:40cuts
08:41that I thought would be harmful to the state of Maine.
08:45That included, for example, doing away with the Job Corps Center.
08:50We have Job Corps Centers, which help youth who are from troubled backgrounds and are between the ages of 16
08:58and 24.
08:59We have two of those centers in the state of Maine, one in Bancor, one in Limestone.
09:04I worked on the Appropriations Committee to save that program.
09:09I saved a program that helps our veterans who are coming out, the TRIO program,
09:16one that was specifically tailored for veterans at the University of Southern Maine.
09:22I blocked the cuts in medical research, which were going to be severe, a 40% cut.
09:29Instead, we increased the funding for medical research by $415 million.
09:36Obviously, the list goes on and on.
09:42I'm still going to be effective because of my seniority and my position.
09:48If the voters of Maine send me back to Washington, I will be filled in seniority in the United States
09:56Senate.
09:57What if the Democrats have a majority in the Senate?
09:59I still would be vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
10:05That's why I went back five years to give you the figure on the $1.5 billion figure because that
10:14included time when I was vice chair of the Appropriations Committee as well as chair.
10:20The best statistic I can give you is if you look at a per capita basis, I rank second in
10:31the entire Senate in the amount of federal funding that I've brought home to my state.
10:39And with a state like Maine, given the bad decisions that have been made in Augusta, given the fact that
10:48we're a low-income state and that we're also a heavily taxed state and the state with the oldest population
10:58by median age in the country, we need that help.
11:03We desperately need that help.
11:06And that's why I'm so glad to be here today and to hear the exciting plans that the town of
11:15Winthrop has worked so hard on and the funding that I secured has helped to make possible.
11:22Thanks, guys.
11:23That's going to be it.
11:24Thanks, guys.
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11:32Thanks, guys.
11:33Thanks, guys.
