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Kevin Miller is Washington bureau chief for the Portland Press Herald and MaineToday Media. He has worked as a journalist in Maine for 6 ½ years, covering the environment, politics and the State House. Before arriving in Maine, he wrote about politics, government and education for newspapers in Virginia and Maryland.
Kevin can be reached at 317-6256 or kmiller@mainetoday.com

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WASHINGTON – Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, got into an exchange with top defense officials on Thursday over whether the military’s current strategy to take the fight to terrorist groups worldwide is on a firm constitutional footing.

“Gentlemen, I’ve only been here five months but this is the most astounding and most astoundingly disturbing hearing that I have been to since I have been here,” King told a panel testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee. “You guys have essentially re-written the Constitution here today.”

King was responding to the Pentagon’s interpretation of the Authorization to Use Military Force passed by Congress in 2001 immediately following the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. The authorization specifically authorizes the military to go after the nations, groups or leaders of those groups behind 9/11 in order to prevent future attacks.

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WASHINGTON – Former Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe talked about gun control, Benghazi and political gridlock in Congress on Wednesday night during an interview on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Here are two clips from the show:

Snowe, a Republican, retired in January after 34 years in Congress and has been making media appearances across the nation promoting her new book, “Fighting for Common Ground: How We Can Fix the Stalemate in Congress.” The book recounts the recent slide to partisan gridlock and offers her views on how to improve the system.

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WASHINGTON – The U.S. Forest Service is asking Maine for a refund.

As part of the Forest Service’s “sequestration” budget-cutting plan, the agency has requested that states return nearly $18 million that were awarded to rural counties earlier this year for school and infrastructure projects, according to recent news reports.

Maine’s share is tiny – just $3,648.36. That’s because payments to states from the Secure Rural Schools program are based on how many acres of timberland the U.S. Forest Service manages in each state. And the agency only owns about 53,700 acres in Maine, the vast majority of which is part of the White Mountain National Forest on the state’s border with New Hampshire.

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WASHINGTON – A gay rights proposal co-sponsored by Maine Sen. Susan Collins could become a major sticking point in the upcoming Senate debate over immigration as members of the “Gang of 8” try to preserve a delicate, bipartisan balance on their bill.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to begin work next week on a massive immigration reform bill that has drawn support from a broad range of groups spanning the political and cultural spectrums. But some conservative and religious groups are warning that the coalition could fall apart if committee chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., attempts to add a gay rights amendment to the bill.

The amendment would essentially treat same-sex couples the same as traditional couples when it comes to immigration. For instance, an American citizen who is legally married to his or her same-sex couple in another country would be allowed to sponsor their foreign-born partner for a green card.

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WASHINGTON -- Earlier today, I had the opportunity to join several other guests talking about the across-the-board federal budget cuts known as "the sequester" on MPBN's radio program "Maine Calling."

You can find an audio file of the "Sequestration" program here.

While the recent air traffic controller furloughs received quite a bit of press, there are many other government programs that are feeling the pinch from the budget cuts. Aside from the political maneuvering in Washington, MPBN host Keith Shortall covered quite a few topics during Tuesday's program, including sequstration's effects on Maine's Meals on Wheels providers, Head Start programs, Acadia National Park and the thousands of civilian defense employees facing furloughs.

The other guests were University of Southern Maine economist Charles Colgan, Col. Doug Farnham with the Maine Air National Guard's 101st Air Refueling Wing (aka, the "Maniacs"), Jessica Maurer with the Maine Association of Area Agencies on Aging and David MacDonald with Friends of Acadia.

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