Jared Golden

Republicans are accusing Gov. Janet Mills and other Democrats of inflammatory rhetoric that they say puts people at risk. Democrats reject such charges, however, and say they're focused on ensuring that civil rights are protected.

The four lawmakers agreed the Trump administration should have consulted Congress and called Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro a dictator or an illegitimate leader. But Republican Sen. Susan Collins was less critical of the Trump administration than Democratic Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden and independent Sen. Angus King.

This is an excerpt from a lengthy conversation with Golden, a Democrat, about what motivated his decision not to seek a fifth term representing Maine's 2nd District. The 43-year-old said he has no immediate plans to seek elected office after more than a decade in Congress and the Maine Legislature. But he also isn't ruling it out.

The bipartisan 231-195 came after Golden, D-District 2, used a parliamentary maneuver known as a "discharge petition" to force a vote on the measure despite opposition from House Republican leaders who typically control the floor agenda.

The two members of Maine's delegations serve on the House and Senate committees that oversee the Defense Department and whose bipartisan leaders have already pledged to look into the incident in the Caribbean.

In a rare feat, more than half of the 435-member House signed onto Golden's "discharge petition" to force a vote — likely sometime in early-December — to rescind what the Maine Democrat describes as blatant "union busting."

Trump accused six Democratic lawmakers of treason and sedition punishable by death after the group — all veterans and former intelligence officers — posted a video pointing out that the law requires military and intelligence personnel to refuse to follow illegal or unconstitutional orders.

U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, of Maine's 1st District, voted against the bill because it failed to extend subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. But 2nd District U.S. Rep. Jared Golden has argued since September against his party's strategy of linking the government funding bill to the ACA tax credits.

Collins, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, has largely blamed Democrats for the shutdown. Democrats, meanwhile, accuse Republicans of refusing to negotiate on extending health care premium subsidies for millions of Americans.

Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat representing Maine's Trump-friendly 2nd Congressional District, reiterated his support for releasing files related to the government's investigation into Jeffrey Epstein scandal that has been amplified and nurtured by the president and other Republican politicians.