President Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, in Washington. Alex Brandon/Associated Press/Pool
President Biden announced in his State of the Union address Thursday night that he would order the U.S. military to establish a temporary port in Gaza to facilitate humanitarian aid, something Maine Sen. Angus King had urged him to do after reading an editorial in the Maine Sunday Telegram.
King and Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee upon which King also serves, sent a letter to Biden last week asking him to deploy a U.S. Navy hospital ship to the region to establish a maritime logistics route to Gaza.
After detailing his plan for an immediate six-week cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, Biden announced the emergency mission to the Gaza coast: a temporary pier that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters.
“A temporary pier will enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day,” he said to applause.
King joined with Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, to pen a Feb. 28 letter to Biden urging him to immediately create a maritime logistics route to Gaza. King is also a member of the Armed Services Committee.
Reed and King issued the following statement as news of Biden’s decision leaked out Thursday:
“We strongly support President Biden’s decision to establish a temporary port in Gaza,” they said. “The civilian suffering in Gaza must be alleviated, and a maritime aid route will enable large quantities of food, shelter, and medical supplies to be delivered to those who need it most.”
In the letter, King and Reed noted a hospital ship could provide humanitarian relief in a war-torn region and deliver aid ashore to the population there, noting that a ship could supply as much aid as 800 trucks and that both France and Indonesia already have sent medical vessels to the region.
King said he got the idea for deploying a hospital ship to Gaza after reading an opinion piece published in the Maine Sunday Telegram by James Stavridis, a retired U.S. Navy admiral and former supreme allied commander of NATO, calling for the deployment of the USNS Comfort and Mercy to Gaza.
In his editorial, Stavridis argued that vessels like the one he once commanded have thousands of hospital beds and a battery of doctors and nurses to provide lifesaving and life-changing patient treatments to nearly 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, nearly half of them children, stranded in the middle of a war zone.
Urging voters to reject “resentment, revenge and retribution,” Biden used his State of the Union address Thursday night to make his case for a second term to a dispirited electorate and to warn that GOP front-runner Donald Trump would be a dangerous alternative.
Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, invited Heather Paquette, the president of Good Shepherd Food Bank, to be her guest for the address, calling Paquette an “ideal guest” given her work to improve food insecurity in Maine at a time of soaring grocery prices.
Pingree expected Biden to use his speech to criticize “shrinkflation” – a term given to the phenomenon of grocery items shrinking in size while staying the same price – and also to fight back against Republican efforts to cut federal food assistance programs for low-income households.
“This evening President Biden laid out a bold vision to rein in corporate greed, protect reproductive rights, support our allies abroad, and keep the American dream alive for middle-class families,” Pingree said. “I support President Biden’s vision and celebrate his successes.”
Rep. Jared Golden, D-2nd District, invited Josh Henry, president and co-founder of Madison-based TimberHP, the first wood fiber insulation manufacturing plant in North America, to be his State of the Union guest to highlight his creation of new markets for one of Maine’s heritage industries.
The Northport resident and his business partner purchased a former paper mill in Madison in 2019. Henry has spent years developing new materials to conserve energy or produce renewable energy. Golden said TimberHP has helped revive the state’s industrial economy.
Collins and Golden didn’t reply to a request for comment on Biden’s address Thursday night.
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