Susan Collins HOLDS Major Police Event In Maine! What She Told Winthrop Officers

It's a great pleasure to be here today in Winthrop and hear about the detailed plans that the Communications Dispatch Center has for using 1.16. I like to round it up to 1. Two million dollars that I was able to secure to update the dispatch center. This center serves eight communities and that makes it absolutely vital for public safety in this area. It handles calls for police assistance. Ambulances and fire assistance, so this is absolutely a vital public safety project. We've worked together as a team and the town of Winthrop has done its part in coming up with the match. It will allow for a total redo of the dispatch center and also a new cell tower, which actually The first stage of the project, the current one is too low and it's not higher than the trees that surround it, so the reception, as you can imagine, is not that great. In addition, ultimately, we want to make sure that our first responders have the equipment with them. that they need in order to take calls so it's really a three-part project and it's going to serve eight towns in this area. They've done a great job led by the town of Winthrop and I think this is a really Great example of where an investment of federal dollars can make a real difference in the public safety of communities in Kennebec County. Chief, would you like to add anything? Again, the eight communities that we serve, roughly, we're talking 18,000 people within these eight communities that rely on Winthrop to dispatch their fire, rescue, and two communities for police services. So for Winthrop to adopt this and take this on by themselves, it's very hard on the community, the taxpayer. So when town manager reached out to Senator Collins' office and she jumped on board, this is about two and a half years ago, and We missed it in the first round, and she walked us through it, got us into the second round, and here we are today with that much-needed resource, money, to make this project happen. And it's a much-needed project. It's not a want, it's a need, because our infrastructure at our tower site is failing. You know, I've been modeling, and... For this community to take it upon themselves monetarily, it was just not feasible to get it done any time in the future, and our equipment is failing daily. Really. And I don't say this lightly. When our vendor says, I'm going on eBay to try to find parts to fix the equipment, and we can't find it anymore, you're living on borrowed time. This right here couldn't have been timed any better. To move forward with the project and we just thank Senator Collins in our office for making this possible for our communities and for our EMTs and firefighters and law enforcement whose safety is so important because. When you get out into the Mount Vernons, the Viennas, and you get on the backside of the mountains, there is absolutely no communication, radio communication. And the dispatchers are always concerned about the safety of their people they've dispatched out there. That's a primary priority. So this is going to help alleviate some of that stress on our dispatches and allow us to communicate better with the people out who are doing the jobs, out on the road doing the jobs. Senator? Yes. So, I've met a number of voters who used to support you, but no longer do. And it's not even that they dislike you, they just can't stand Trump. And you say, you know, that you've split with the president on XYZ. That's not enough for some of them. And I'm curious, and I'm sure you talk to these people, what do they tell you you could have done differently, or could do differently, to keep the president from weighing you down in this race? Well, first of all, there are several major issues where I've differed from the president, most notably his signature legislative accomplishment, the big, beautiful bill, which I voted against, but was able to negotiate the inclusion of a $50 billion fund for rural health care. That is particularly important to the state of Maine. Our first allotment was $190 million and Governor Mills has already used part of that money to save the Penobscot Community Health Clinics, which were on the verge of going under, and thus 55,000 people in the area would not have access to the health care that they have. So that's a very good example. Another was my vote, which was the decisive vote in the first Trump administration to save the Affordable Care Act. And that was important as well for people who lacked insurance. But what I find that people are more interested in is the question, who can do more for the people of Maine? And I think... When I frame the question that way, the choice becomes very obvious. I don't want to get into a political press conference because we're on, this is a federal stop, and we're on the town halls. But I'd be glad to talk to you further about that. But I think that's what it boils down to. And since I'm the first Maine senator in nearly a century to chair the Appropriations Committee, and I've been able to bring $1.5 billion to Maine to support projects just like this one. That's a pretty powerful argument, particularly in a highly taxed state like Maine. Senator, what is the reaction to that? Channel 6, go ahead. Senator, good afternoon. We're here for another earmark today. Yesterday you emphasized your role on appropriations as well, but you've also been able to do damage control for the Trump administration here, IRS centers closing, Canadian tariffs, ending the ICE surge here in Maine. Troy Jackson is saying that after election day, the Trump administration is no longer going to take your calls because they don't need to work to get you re-elected. What's your response to that? Well, that's an absurd assertion. Of course they're still going to take my calls. I mean, we can go way back to when the Trump administration, in its... First days of office practically canceled the Sea Grant program, which was so important to our coastal communities, our fishermen, our lobster men and women. And I worked with the Secretary of Commerce and with the University of Maine to modify Maine's grant application and got the Sea Grant program reinstated. A program that the The University of Maine had run for decades, for decades. There are examples after examples of that. As chair of the Appropriations Committee, I worked to put together a bipartisan coalition to block $170 billion worth of cuts that I thought would be harmful to the state of Maine. That included, for example, doing away with the Job Corps Center. We have Job Corps centers which help youth who are from troubled backgrounds and are between the ages of 16 and 24. We have two of those centers in the state of Maine, one in Bangor, one in Limestone. I worked on the Appropriations Committee to save that program. I saved a program that helps our veterans. ...who are coming out, the TRIO program, one that was specifically tailored for veterans at the University of Southern Maine. I blocked the cuts in medical research, which were going to be severe, a 40% cut. Instead we increased the funding for medical research by $415 million. Obviously the list goes on and on. I'm still going to be effective because of my seniority and my position. If the voters of Maine send me back to Washington, I will be fifth in seniority in the United States Senate. What if the Democrats have a majority in the Senate? I still would be vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. That's why I went back five years to give you the figure on the $1.5 billion figure because that included time when I was vice chair of the Appropriations Committee as well as chair. The best statistic I can give you is if you look at a per capita basis, I ranked second in the entire Senate. In the amount of federal funding that I've brought home to my state and with a state like Maine, given the bad decisions that have been made in Augusta, given the fact that we're a low income state and that we're also a heavily taxed state and the state with the oldest population by median age in the country, we need that help. We desperately need that help and that's why I'm so glad to be here today and to hear the exciting plans that the town of Winthrop has worked so hard on and the funding that I secured has helped to make possible. Thank you. Subscribe to One India and never miss an update. Download the OneIndia app now.