Rep. Jared Golden also supported a procedural rule that cleared the way for a House vote on his bill extending the pause on new right whale regulations that would affect the lobster industry.
Sep 07, 2026
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WASHINGTON, DC—When Representative Jared Golden (D-Maine) broke with his party last week during a procedural rule, he was just one of two Democrats to do so.
He’s said his reason was clear.
The Maine 2nd District Rep voted for the rule that allowed floor debate on a plethora of bills because those bills included one of his own—The Northeast Lobstermen Protection Act.
He cosponsored the bill with Rep. Mike Lawler, R-New York.
“This bill is about the future of a heritage industry, and the working men and women who risk their lives on the ocean to put nutritious seafood on our plates,” Golden said in his House floor remarks. “It’s also about protecting the working-class communities those men and women support. In Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, lobster fishing is the backbone of towns up and down the coast. In some towns, 20 to 40 percent of residents hold a lobster license. In those towns, life as they know it would end without fishing.”
The Northeast Lobstermen Protection Act delays new federal rules that are meant to protect the North Atlantic right whales, which are considered critically endangered.
Though many who lobster and their affiliated groups consider the delay a win and that there needs to be more study before the rules are implemented, others, such as the New England Aquarium, advocate that delaying the rules put more right whales at risk. There are approximately 380 right whales alive currently. The rules that have been delayed are meant to reduce the whales entangling with fishing gear. Those entanglements can increase mortality.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the legislation, Tuesday, 219-196, which Rep. Golden says, “will protect our heritage lobster industry from unnecessary and costly new regulations related to the protection of the North Atlantic right whale. Now the bill goes to the Senate, where I’m hopeful it will win passage and be sent to President Trump, who has already said he will sign it.”
Rep. Chellie Pingree also voted yes; she and Rep. Golden were two of ten Democrats to do so.
Rep. Golden’s bill is meant to extend the current regulatory pause that is in place through 2028. The pause concerns right whale protection rules that involve fishing gear restrictions, area closures, and other measures. The pause—if passed in the Senate—would now continue until 2035.
“This pause funded new efforts to gather information to aid a data-driven process establishing rules that made sense for both the fishermen and the whales,” Rep. Golden said in July.
“Jared Golden made a strong case for the lobster industry in his own district, and he was right,” Lawler said in a statement this week. “Democratic leadership still would not make it a priority. So we did.”
That wasn’t the only Republican support for Rep. Golden’s bill.
According to the Bangor Daily News, “Golden said he got in touch with former Gov. Paul LePage, the Republican who launched a run against him last year. LePage texted that he’d reached out to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana. Johnson visited Maine to stump and fundraise with LePage last month. About 48 hours after that, Republican staff told Golden’s office a floor vote was coming.”
LePage is the Republican candidate for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, a seat that Rep. Golden is not running for again. State auditor Matt Dunlap opposed LePage in that election, which will be decided in November. Dunlap also told the BDN that he supports the pause. The Trump administration has previously come out in support of the legislation.
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