Maine

Maine U.S. House of Represenatives, District 1

Respond to Candidate

Chellie Pingree (D)

Chellie Pingree

P.O. Box 17613
Portland, ME 04112

Visit Candidate's Website
(207) 773-0155
campaign@pingreeforcongress.com

BIOGRAPHY

Chellie lives on North Haven Island, where she raised her three children, worked as an organic farmer, and has owned two successful small businesses providing jobs in her community. She served eight years in the Maine Senate, four as the Majority Leader, and is Congresswoman of Maine’s first district.

National Health Reform Implementation: In addition to expanding coverage through Medicaid, national health reform is expected to provide more than 17 million people with subsidies to purchase coverage through Exchanges. However, some people might still not be able to afford insurance. What measures, if any, would you support to help make health insurance affordable for families?

I believe we should continue to improve the newly enacted health reform law, but it’s a good start. In addition to subsidies, this law makes health insurance more affordable by preventing rescissions and denials of coverage due to preexisting conditions, including children on their parent’s policy until age 26, and requiring full coverage of preventative care. Additionally, I support amending the law to create a public health insurance option to improve competition and lower costs.

Childhood Obesity: More than one in six U.S children are obese, a rate that has tripled in the past 30 years. Childhood obesity is linked to a number of debilitating and expensive diseases including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, several kinds of cancer, and other chronic conditions. What can be done, if anything, to help families and communities address this issue?

We need to focus more on preventive care. The Fund for a Healthy Maine – which I helped establish – has made strides in promoting nutrition and physical activity among Maine children. I also recently introduced legislation to help schools serve healthier meals while supporting local farmers. In order to protect kids and lower health care costs, we must stand up to the tobacco, soda, junk food, and alcohol companies and make them stop targeting our kids.

Children’s Budget: Representative Danny Davis and Senator Menendez have introduced the Children’s Budget Act (H.R. 3772/S. 3108), legislation that would require federal spending on children’s programs to be separately displayed and analyzed in the President’s budget, illustrating how the federal government allocates resources for children. What importance, if any, do you place on creating a Children’s Budget and why?

I think this could be a very effective way to gauge how we are fulfilling our commitment to our children in a variety of key ways, like health care, education, and environmental quality.

TANF: The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program (TANF), which provides assistance and work opportunities to needy families, is up for reauthorization this year. How would you rate the success of this program and what changes, if any, would you make to the TANF program?

TANF is a critical safety net program, helping us meet the needs of low income families as we work to rebuild our state’s economy. TANF has been relatively flat-funded for more than a decade, and reauthorization provides an opportunity to infuse the program with much-needed resources. We should also consider programs like the Parents as Scholars Program that I sponsored in the state legislature in 2000 which expanded access to higher education for TANF recipients.

Foster Care: Over half a million children are currently in the U.S. foster care system. What reforms, if any, would you propose to ensure that more foster children receive appropriate care and are eventually placed in safe, permanent homes?

Unfortunately there is a severe shortage of adoptive and foster parents. That is why I am cosponsoring the Every Child Deserves a Family Act, which would open up additional safe and loving homes for children by allowing placements with qualified parents regardless of their marital status or sexual orientation. We must also dedicate resources to bolster mentoring programs and link all foster children to medical homes for their diverse physical, emotional, and mental health needs.

Secondary Education: Every year over one million American students fail to graduate from high school. What policy ideas are most important to you in working to increase graduation rates and strengthen America’s public schools?

I believe an expansion of the Jobs for Maine Graduates (JMG) program would dramatically improve Maine's drop-out rate, graduation rate, and post secondary attainment. The expansion of JMG's services will allow JMG to grow the current total of 3,600 students served per year to more than 7,000 students served per year.

Higher Education: Between 2001 and 2010, an estimated two million students who were otherwise qualified to go to college did not attend because they could not afford the tuition costs. What measures, if any, do you feel should be taken to make higher education more affordable to students?

This year I proudly supported passage of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA), which overhauled our existing federal student loan program, providing more transparency, accountability and affordability for American families. The bill will expand access to an affordable college education to more American students and help build a world-class community college system. In addition to SAFRA, I support further expansion of Pell grant awards and increased funding for career and technical training.

Respond to Candidate

Respond to Candidate

Dean Scontras (R)

P.O. Box 385
York, ME 03909

Visit Candidate's Website
(207) 772-9595
E-mail address not available

BIOGRAPHY

The candidate's response will be posted as soon as it is received.

National Health Reform Implementation: In addition to expanding coverage through Medicaid, national health reform is expected to provide more than 17 million people with subsidies to purchase coverage through Exchanges. However, some people might still not be able to afford insurance. What measures, if any, would you support to help make health insurance affordable for families?

Childhood Obesity: More than one in six U.S children are obese, a rate that has tripled in the past 30 years. Childhood obesity is linked to a number of debilitating and expensive diseases including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, several kinds of cancer, and other chronic conditions. What can be done, if anything, to help families and communities address this issue?

Children’s Budget: Representative Danny Davis and Senator Menendez have introduced the Children’s Budget Act (H.R. 3772/S. 3108), legislation that would require federal spending on children’s programs to be separately displayed and analyzed in the President’s budget, illustrating how the federal government allocates resources for children. What importance, if any, do you place on creating a Children’s Budget and why?

TANF: The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program (TANF), which provides assistance and work opportunities to needy families, is up for reauthorization this year. How would you rate the success of this program and what changes, if any, would you make to the TANF program?

Foster Care: Over half a million children are currently in the U.S. foster care system. What reforms, if any, would you propose to ensure that more foster children receive appropriate care and are eventually placed in safe, permanent homes?

Secondary Education: Every year over one million American students fail to graduate from high school. What policy ideas are most important to you in working to increase graduation rates and strengthen America’s public schools?

Higher Education: Between 2001 and 2010, an estimated two million students who were otherwise qualified to go to college did not attend because they could not afford the tuition costs. What measures, if any, do you feel should be taken to make higher education more affordable to students?

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