HOULTON, Maine (AP) — U.S. Senators from Maine and New Hampshire want the federal government to reevaluate the restrictions on travel between the U.S. and Canada during the coronavirus pandemic.
The senators said the restrictions “put an immense strain on the communities that straddle the border” along the world’s longest international boundary. They also said the risk of significant cross-border transmission of coronavirus appears to be low at this time in many border areas.
The bipartisan group includes Republican Sen. Susan Collins and independent Sen. Angus King of Maine as well as Democratic Sens. Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire.
The group wrote that policies about border crossing “should reflect the actual, localized risk on both sides of the border.” Many people on both sides of the border live in remote communities who rely on border crossing for essential services, the senators wrote.
