The Fed chairmans says a lending program the agency is creating for small businesses should be operating by the end of the month.
Politics
Local, statewide and national political news from the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel.
Barr says he doesn’t envision criminal investigations of Biden, Obama
The attorney general says the Justice Department will not be affected by political pressure.
Democrats: Fired watchdog was looking into Saudi arms sale
They say Inspector General Steve Linick was looking into how the State Department approved a $7 billion weapons sale over congressional objections.
Collins says Trump didn’t follow the law when firing inspector general
In an exchange on Twitter, Maine’s senior U.S. senator said the president did not follow a federal law, which she helped pass in 2008, when he fired a federal watchdog in the office of the U.S. Inspector General late last Friday.
Amid pandemic, GOP gathers signatures to kill ranked-choice voting
The Maine Republican Party says it is close to obtaining the signatures it needs on petitions to prevent the use of ranked-choice voting in the November presidential election.
How Maine’s members of Congress voted last week
Among other legislation, the Senate passed the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, to designate 9-8-8 as the universal telephone number for the purpose of the national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline system operating through the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and through the Veterans Crisis Line.
Maine’s two Democratic members of Congress split on new COVID-19 relief bill
Jared Golden opposed the $3 trillion measure while Chellie Pingree favored it in a Friday night U.S. House vote.
Democrats push new $3 trillion virus relief bill through House
The bill is sure to go nowhere in the Republican-led Senate, let alone reach President Trump’s desk, where a threatened veto awaits.
Pelosi, GOP exchange barbs over new economic relief package
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says Congress will likely take up another virus bill, “but it’s not going to be a $3 trillion left-wing wish.”
Supreme Court justices fear ‘chaos’ if states can’t bind presidential electors’ votes
So-called faithless electors have not been critical to the outcome of a presidential election, but that could change in a contest with a razor-thin margin.