| 🗞 The Daily Brief is made possible by Bangor Daily News subscribers. Support the work of our politics team and enjoy unlimited access to everything the BDN has to offer by subscribing here. |
|
| 📷 Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, presides over Gov. Janet Mills' second inauguration on Jan. 4, 2023, in Augusta. (BDN photo by Troy R. Bennett) |
|
🍼 Top Democrats' signature childcare push gets real.
◉ Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, and Senate Majority Leader Eloise Vitelli, D-Arrowsic, will headline a noon news conference on Wednesday ahead of hearings on their two bills aimed at bolstering the crucial childcare sector, which has long relied on low-wage workers and has been wracked by labor shortages that keep parents out of the workforce.
◉ Jackson's main bill on the topic looks to expand public preschool programs across the state, while Vitelli wants to soup up existing childcare subsidies. Lawmakers of both parties are on both bills, while a wide coalition of business, public safety and other groups are pushing the Legislature to do more.
◉ Mills' stance on these measures is going to be key to working them through the Legislature. Conservatives led by the Maine Policy Institute have long beaten a drum against perceived overregulation of the childcare field. Republicans may try to inject those ideas into discussions on the topic.
🇨🇳 A Maine senator joins a top Republican to confront China.
◉ Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, released a resolution this week No. 2 Senate Republican John Thune of South Dakota that pressures the World Trade Organization to change rules that allow China to call itself as a developing county for advantages over U.S. manufacturers.
◉ It is a repeat of their similar 2021 resolution, but it comes after King has been outspoken on other issues revolving around the rival power, including an effort that could lead to a national ban on TikTok if the social media company's Chinese owner does not sell it. |
|
📱Want daily texts from me tipping you to political stories before they break?
Get Pocket Politics. It is free for 14 days and $3.99 per month if you like it. |
|
What we're reading
💥 Maine's delegation had mostly restrained reactions to a civil verdict against former President Donald Trump.
💰 Mills wants at least $1 million more for a new child welfare plan.
📢 The family of a Down East man says his unsolved killing was drug-related.
📰 Maine's last alternative journalist does not care what we think of him.
⛺ Portland prepares to dismantle a large homeless camp.
🟠 We run down the changes to the 2023 moose hunting season. Here's your soundtrack. |
|
| 💰 Want to advertise in the Daily Brief? Write our sales team. |
|
|
|
