Maine's Congressional Delegation Fails Climate Crisis Again, Votes For 'Writing Huge Checks To Boeing & Lockheed'

Jason Rawn at today's news conference in Portland, singing about flooding already underway 

Three dozen people came together to call for conversion of the Bath Iron Works shipyard to build solutions to climate emergency, but Maine's congressional delegation was nowhere to be found. Despite numerous invitations to Rep. Chellie Pingree (1st District) and Rep. Jared Golden (2nd District), not even a staffer for either politician put in an appearance.

Both Pingree and Golden had just voted for the most gargantuan Pentagon budget ever, $733 billion worth.

Their courageous colleague Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan accurately described the appropriations bill as "huge checks being written to Boeing and Lockheed Martin."

Some of those huge checks are for General Dynamics, too, which could explain why Pingree, Golden, Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Angus King stayed away from our Conversion Campaign presser in Portland this morning.

All four will no doubt again be the guests of General Dynamics, which owns Bath Iron Works, tomorrow at a celebration for the Arleigh Burke Guided Missile Destroyer Daniel Inouye.

Another carbon belching war ship the U.S. doesn't need, a weapon system allegedly built to address national security while ignoring the real security emergency facing us all: catastrophic climate change.

Dozens of us will be in the streets in front of the shipyard hoping to be glimpsed by our congressional delegation being whisked through the gates in limousines with tinted windows.

Green Party USA two-time presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein will be out in the streets with us after speaking today about the kind of representation that the people of the U.S. and especially the workers at BIW deserve. So will my husband and I and many of the speakers from today's news conference.

I'll have the full line up of speakers and excerpts of their remarks soon when video of the conference is posted.

Hope to see you at 8am on Washington Street near the north gate of BIW in Bath tomorrow, Saturday June 22, 2019.

A press release with more info on the event may be found here.