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Yahoo
4 days ago
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Susan Collins has reached a pinnacle of authority. How will she use it?
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) arrives for a Republican luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on February 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by) Editor's Note: This story is the first of a series about U.S. Sen. Susan Collins' role during the second Trump presidency. After a campaign promise to bring in outsized federal dollars for Maine, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins won reelection during Trump's first term, overcoming a record amount of spending against her and defying public polls. At the start of the president's second term, Collins rose to the helm of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the first time a Mainer has chaired one of the upper chamber's most powerful committees in 92 years. However, Maine's longest-serving member of Congress has reached this pinnacle of authority as President Donald Trump is attempting to flip the system on its head. His administration, by Collins' own admission, has unjustly rescinded congressionally appropriated funds, at times singling out Maine in what are widely considered retaliatory actions over the state's defiance of his executive order rolling back transgender rights. During Trump's second term so far, Collins has bucked the executive periodically, particularly with attempts to reign in tariffs by reasserting congressional control and voting against a budget framework passed by the Senate in April because of possible cuts to Medicaid, the state-federal health program for low-income people and some people with disabilities. Though, in the budget currently being considered, she is supportive of adding work requirements to limit Medicaid eligibility. Some of her constituents want to see more public pushback. 'I focus on results, not rhetoric,' Collins said in an interview. 'My goal is not to get on Fox News and MSNBC and rant and rave.' Outlining her strategy for Maine Morning Star, Collins said she's had success restoring some funding largely due to conversations outside of public view, relying on her long-developed relationships. 'It is far more effective for me to, for example, restore the funding that the administration wants to cut for the Low Income Heating Assistance Program, LIHEAP, which is so important to the state of Maine, than it is to go make a fiery speech to anywhere that doesn't result in any change,' Collins said. But some constituents argue a piecemeal approach to restoring funds will ultimately be ineffective as overall democratic checks and balances are tested. During Trump's first few weeks back in office, Collins said she hoped the courts would side with Congress if the president's attempts to control spending were litigated. Now, with numerous cases in the courts, Collins said, 'some of the actions taken by the administration have and will be overturned in court, and others Congress will overturn through the appropriations process.' She added, 'When I disagree with the actions of the administration, I have not hesitated to intervene.' Collins said she consulted with the Trump administration in order to restore the U.S. Department of Agriculture grants to the University of Maine, renegotiate the Maine Sea Grant, secure an exception to the hiring freeze at Acadia National Park and reverse the cancellation of a decades-old program that allows parents to register their newborns for a Social Security number while at hospitals — though Collins' spokesperson told Maine Morning Star that Social Security Administration Acting Commissioner Leland Dudek told the senator it was an error but reporting later revealed that he deliberately sought to punish Maine after Gov. Janet Mills' heated exchange with Trump over the state's transgender protections. But some Maine voters argue Collins should be using her seniority — as the seventh most senior member of the Senate and the most senior Republican woman — for more than piecemeal fixes. Falmouth resident Anne Scheer — who carried a sign during a Tax Day protest in Augusta that read 'Where's Susan?' — said she wants the senator to rally her caucus to stand up for democracy, adding that she doesn't think that has to be an anti-Trump message. 'She needs to talk with her fellow Republicans and say, 'This is enough,'' Scheer said. Her vote is the mechanism of government but she has a platform that she could be speaking from. – Biddeford resident Anthony Burgess Cape Elizabeth resident Jerry Kaufman, an independent who protested against Collins in Biddeford in April, said he'd vote for Collins if she could convince her colleagues to confront the president to say 'stop the foolishness.' 'Show some leadership and bring some people along with you,' Kaufman said. At that same protest, Biddeford resident Anthony Burgess, a registered Democrat who voted for Collins once in 2014, criticized her statements of concern and disappointment about some of the Trump administration's actions as lacking conviction. He said independent U.S. Sen. Angus King's attendance at the 'Hands Off' rally in Portland in April demonstrated for him a refusal to cow to Trump. 'Her vote is the mechanism of government but she has a platform that she could be speaking from,' Burgess said. When asked what her response is to those who say she should be doing more to ensure the separation of powers remains, Collins pointed to her questioning officials in subcommittee hearings. One main purpose of subcommittees is to hold hearings on spending proposals during which members can directly question agency heads. Collins has questioned several, including U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the proposed elimination of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. 'We're actually holding these subcommittee hearings at a breakneck pace to evaluate spending requests and reductions, as well as to assess compliance with congressional intent and enacted laws,' Collins said. However, Collins said the public does not see what she feels is her most efficient tactic. 'My goal is to get things fixed and to get problems solved, and I do that through the federal hearings where I'm laying the foundation for restoration of the cuts in biomedical research, which is an extraordinarily high priority for me,' Collins said, as an example. 'But also I do it privately by calling up Cabinet members.' Collins said she is so far largely approaching her qualms with the administration through these one-on-one conversations. This tactic has burned her at times in the past, notably when Collins voted for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh after she said he gave her private assurances he wasn't a threat to Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion ruling that he later voted to overturn. More recently, ahead of the deadline to avoid a government shutdown, Collins said she started texting with Trump's billionaire adviser Elon Musk, who heads the Department of Government Efficiency. That outreach does not appear to have gone as planned, at least for the immediate outcome. While Collins initially said she was 'absolutely' opposed to a full-year stop gap approach, she told Politico that Republican leaders instructed her to start writing a plan for that approach anyway. The version that passed, drafted by House GOP leadership, was ultimately pushed through with limited input from spending leaders of either chamber. But in other cases, she's touted success that she's had with these conversations that happen behind closed doors, such as with the restoration of the USDA funding and renegotiation of the Maine Sea Grant. 'Because I have these relationships with the president's Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and with Cabinet members, I have been able to restore funding that was in jeopardy,' Collins said. Mark Brewer, chair of the political science department at the University of Maine, sees this as a strength unique to Collins. 'Given that she's the only Republican member of the current Maine delegation and she's the only person with a committee chair, I think she's better positioned to have those communications than any of the other members,' Brewer said. But while Collins sees these behind-the-scenes negotiations as the most effective way to restore funding that, as she puts it, has been arbitrarily and unfairly cut from Maine, when it comes to attempts to gut entire programs, 'that's going to take legislation,' she said. The sprawling budget bill is the main vehicle where such attempts are currently being made. Cokie Giles, a registered nurse at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, protested with National Nurses United outside Collins' office in Portland in March to demand the senator oppose the possible cuts to Medicaid in the budget. While Collins often talks about her ability to work across the aisle, Giles said, 'Well, work on your own side, and don't let these cuts go through.' After Collins, citing concerns about possible Medicaid cuts, was one of two Senate Republicans to vote against the budget framework that the chamber passed in early April, Giles told Maine Morning Star she was pleased but not confident the senator's opposition would remain as budget debates continues, nor that her vote would make a difference in the end. Late last month, the U.S. House narrowly approved the massive tax and spending plan. The legislation now heads to the Senate, where Republican lawmakers are expected to rewrite much of it, now taking into consideration the more detailed budget plan Trump released on Friday. The bill will then have to head back to the House for final approval, with a goal to get it to the president's desk by the Fourth of July. As passed by the House, the 1,116-page package combines 11 bills. Among its many components, the current plan would overhaul Medicaid, reducing the program by $625 billion over 10 years under the latest estimate by the Congressional Budget Office. Collins did not provide specific red lines that would lead her to not support the budget package, but she described Medicaid as critically important for Maine's health care system and a vital resource for many seniors, low-income families, disabled patients and those who cannot work. She told Maine Morning Star she 'cannot support proposals that would create more duress for our hospitals and providers that are already teetering on the edge of insolvency.' However, Collins is supportive of placing further limits on program eligibility, specifically 'work requirements for able-bodied men and women who are capable of working and do not have obligations that preclude them from participating in the workforce,' she said. As passed by the House, people who are between the ages of 19 and 65 would be required to work, participate in community service, or attend an educational program at least 80 hours a month to be eligible. The language has numerous exceptions, including for pregnant people, parents of dependent children and people who have complex medical conditions, among others. Under these requirements, 34,000 Mainers would be expected to lose their Medicaid coverage, reducing federal funding by $215 million, according to the progressive Maine Center for Economic Policy. Maine Gov. Janet Mills warned in a radio address on Friday about these cuts, as well as others that would limit access to the Affordable Care Act health insurance marketplaces. 'If you receive health care through MaineCare or which is the Affordable Care Act, I encourage you to contact Members of Congress to share what that coverage means to you,' Mills said. 'They need to hear your story.' Some shared their stories at a protest against Collins organized by the Maine Democratic Party in Bangor on Saturday, which drew almost 200 attendees who demanded the senator block the health care and other program cuts in the budget. 'In 2020, [Collins] told us that her seniority would protect us, that chairing Appropriations would give her the power to defend Maine's interests,' said Shawn Yardley. 'Her party now controls the White House and both chambers of Congress, but the cuts and the cruelty keep coming.' While Collins emphasized some possible future impacts on MaineCare at the federal level, she said, 'the state has not been perfect on this issue.' The senator called out the Maine Legislature for being unable to reach a compromise on its state budget. 'The state is holding up more than $100 million in emergency supplemental funding that would draw down nearly $400 million federal funds,' Collins said. Maine Senate Republicans held out their support for the supplemental budget plan, and later the two-year budget, because they'd wanted it to include structural reform to Medicaid — notably the work requirements Collins is supportive of adding on the federal level. Last month, the Maine House failed to secure enough support to get the now already allocated Medicaid funding out sooner. Some Republicans, though not ultimately enough for passage, supported that effort, arguing the state needs to pay its bills owed to providers, but others called it a blank check they wouldn't sign. With Maine hospitals already struggling to keep services available, state groups are calling on Collins in particular to reject federal health care cuts, as well as cuts to childcare and food assistance in a digital ad campaign launched this week by Family Values @ Work Action, a national network of state and local coalitions aimed at promoting family-friendly workplace policies. 'This package takes food and medicine from the mouths of Maine families to fund tax cuts for the wealthy,' Destie Hohman Sprague, executive director of the Maine Women's Lobby, said in a statement on Monday. Among many other components, the federal budget bill proposes cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP, through expanded work requirements and shifting some program costs to state governments. Maine would also lose federal matching funds as a penalty for providing coverage to some immigrant populations. The budget plan would also raise the debt limit by $4 trillion. 'We have an enormous deficit and debt,' Collins said, 'and we do need to evaluate programs.' As the Senate negotiates what to keep and do away with in the 'big, beautiful bill' that represents the heart of Trump's domestic agenda, how Maine's senior senator chooses to use her influence, whether in public or not, will be put to the test. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
On Tax Day, Mainers rally against tax breaks for the wealthy
Nelson (left) and Sharon Beaudoin, both retired educators from Auburn, gathered in Augusta on April 15 to voice their raising taxes on the wealthy. (Emma Davis/ Maine Morning Star) As some Mainers finalized their taxes on Tuesday, roughly 75 used the filing deadline to protest what they view as state and federal tax structures that favor the rich — and more broadly, the Trump administration's cuts to programs relied on by average Mainers that they see as footing the bill. As Auburn resident Nelson Beaudoin told Maine Morning Star, there are a hundred reasons that drew him to the rally, 'and they all start with the letter T.' Advocates for tax reform under the coalition Mainers for Tax Fairness gathered at the State House in Augusta to voice their objections to Congress advancing a budget plan that lays the groundwork for extending President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts. 'We are here to connect the dots,' said Ryan Tipping, director of campaigns and strategy for the progressive Maine Center for Economic Policy. 'We need to listen to what the cost of that greed is.' Tipping and other speakers pointed to a litany of cuts that have impacted Maine, including the Trump administration firing the entire staff of the Low Income Heating Assistance Program, which tens of thousands of Mainers rely on, and layoff notices issued to 13 employees of the Maine State Library last week, which also led to a temporary closure. They also cautioned about possible implications should the congressional budget plan pass, such as cuts to low-income food assistance and Medicaid, as many say the tax cuts in the plan will not be possible without slashing the program. 'Is my life worth less than tax breaks for billionaires?' asked Gina Morin, a Mainer who relies on Medicaid for prescriptions to treat a chronic disease. Formed in 2020 and launched in 2021, the Mainers for Tax Fairness coalition comprises a number of organizations representing progressive interests across the state, such as Maine Equal Justice, Maine People's Alliance and the Maine Center for Economic Policy, who are also backing bills being considered by the Maine Legislature to restructure the state's tax brackets. 'If the rich paid more taxes, they would still be rich,' Sharon Beaudoin, a retired educator from Auburn who attended the rally, told Maine Morning Star. Last week, the Taxation Committee tabled a number of the tax reform bills that the group supports to wait until a nonpartisan state committee releases its updated state revenue projections next month. The state is currently looking at a projected deficit of $450 million over the next two years. In order to fill the gap, Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has proposed some program cuts and a number of largely regressive taxes, which have a greater impact on low earners, but the coalition is alternatively pushing for a model that taxes the wealthy more. Among those bills is LD 1089, sponsored by Rep. Cheryl Golek (D-Harpswell), which would impose an income tax surcharge of 4% on taxable income in excess of $1 million, with the revenue generated going to fund public K-12 education. That $1 million level triggers the 4% surcharge for all tax filing statuses, which is not typical for tax structures in Maine. Therefore, the committee is considering an amendment, which in addition to some technical tweaks would add another level before the 4% surcharge would be triggered. Another bill, LD 229 sponsored by Rep. Ann Matlack (D-Spruce Head), would add new tax brackets and increase the threshold for the state's lower tax brackets. Other bills that the tax rally attendees highlighted include a plan to impose an additional tax of 4% on investment income above certain thresholds and another to increase the real estate transfer tax for sales over $1 million. The coalition also supports legislation that aims to support the average Mainer in other ways, including by expanding the state's version of a child tax credit and increasing funding for family planning services, such routine gynecological and well exams, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections and cancer screenings, but not abortions. Anna Kellar, executive director of Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, discussed bills that, in light of the budget outlook, lawmakers seem poised to reject that aim to expand the state's clean elections program, which finances campaigns through public funding. 'Unfortunately, when we're in tight budget years like this, funding for clean elections gets pitted against funding for all of the other things that we care about — rental assistance, Medicaid, our schools,' Kellar said. 'But we refuse to accept this idea of scarcity.' Instead, Kellar said the solution is clear: 'making the wealthy pay their fair share.' The rally on Tax Day was also the first stop for the inflatable 'tax the ultra rich' yacht tour, said Lewiston-Auburn resident Rebecca Swanson Conrad, who represents Oxfam 'Sisters on the Planet,' a group working to end global economic injustice. 'I simply do not believe that a billionaire's yacht should come at the expense of everyday Americans,' Swanson Conrad said, to which members of the crowd responded, 'damn right.' However, she added that the work ahead is not convincing those in attendance today but rather, she said, 'those who cannot see how it impacts them, yet.' Swanson Conrad urged people to share the stories told today with neighbors and call on them to press their elected officials to push back on tax cuts for the wealthy, before the group walked to the federal offices of Maine's U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, a Republican, and Angus King, an independent, to begin those calls. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Collins, King urge HHS secretary to reverse course on LIHEAP firings
Natural gas meter. (Photo by Bill Oxford/ Getty Images) Following reports that mass firings at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services wiped out the entire staff of the federal low income heating assistance program, Maine's two senators sent a letter to the head of the agency warning of potentially devastating consequences. The Low Income Heating Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is federally funded and provides financial assistance to help lower income households afford energy bills, weatherization, and energy-related home repairs. Republican Susan Collins and independent Angus King, along with 11 of their Senate colleagues, penned a letter to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday, urging him to 'reverse course on any staffing or funding cuts that would jeopardize the distribution of these funds to our constituents.' While the program remains in effect, its roughly 20 federal staffers were reportedly among the approximately 10,000 HHS workers terminated this week as part of a mass layoff to make the agency 'more responsive and efficient.' The senators wrote that, if true, the terminations 'will undermine the HHS's ability to deliver this critical funding to low-income seniors and families.' In addition, they noted that local community action programs that help enroll qualified residents could also be weakened by cuts undertaken by HHS and billionaire advisor Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Maine has seen a sizable increase in applications for LIHEAP in recent years, jumping from 45,000 in 2019 to 70,000 in the past year, according to the Maine State Housing Authority. For fiscal year 2025, Maine was awarded about $37.6 million in LIHEAP funds with an additional $1.4 million for the Wabanaki Nations, according to Collins' office. In the letter, the senators noted that states 'are expecting HHS to release nearly $400 million in FY25 funding later this month. Any delay in providing this funding will set back efforts to provide summer cooling grants, weatherize low-income homes, and plan for the next winter heating season.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Golden, Pingree condemn mass firing of low income heating assistance workers
Rep. Chellie Pingree outside the U.S. Capitol. (Rep. Chellie Pingree via Facebook) Thousands of Mainers rely on the federal heating assistance program whose entire staff the Trump administration fired on Tuesday, leaving its future uncertain. The Low Income Heating Assistance Program is federally funded and provides financial assistance to lower income households to reduce the cost of energy bills. While the program remains in effect, its roughly 20 federal staffers were among the approximately 10,000 Department of Health and Human Services workers terminated this week as part of a mass layoff to make the agency 'more responsive and efficient.' Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden responded to the firings on social media, writing in a post on X, 'What 'efficiency' is achieved by firing everyone in Maine whose job is to help Mainers afford heating oil when it's cold?' For fiscal year 2025, Maine was awarded about $37.6 million in LIHEAP funding, as well as about $1.4 million for the Wabanaki Nations, according to a press release from Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins last fall. Most of that funding has already been received, however, the last 10% is funded through the continuing budget resolution Congress passed in March. In a social media post condemning the firings, Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree asked, 'How will LIHEAP distribute these funds (which have ALREADY been allocated by Congress) without staff? Make it make sense.' Without the assistance, families will have to choose between heating their homes and putting food on the table, Pingree wrote. 'It's not only callous and cruel, it defies logic,' she added. Lucy Hochschartner, the climate and clean energy director for Maine Conservation Voters, said long-term the state should continue to invest in clean energy and double down on efficiency measures to decrease energy costs for Mainers but that LIHEAP is what Mainers need right now. 'I can bet that the people who decided to cut the entire LIHEAP staff have never struggled to pay their heating bill,' Hochschartner said. 'In Maine, it doesn't matter who you voted for — we know that everyone deserves to stay warm during our long winters, and this is the program that makes that possible.' Federal cuts aside, the program in Maine is already strained. During a meeting of the Legislature's Government Oversight Committee on Friday, Daniel Brennan, director of Maine State Housing Authority, told lawmakers that the state has seen an increase in applications for LIHEAP over the last five years — from 45,000 in 2019 to 70,000 in the past year — with no corresponding increase to its federal grant that provides the administrative dollars to hire enough staff to meet demand. The grant has remained at about $40 million. 'This year has been a particularly difficult year because this year is the first year where we've had to face this head on, where we simply don't have the money that the [community action programs] need to meet the higher demand of the applications,' Brennan said. The program puts out $675,000 on average per week, providing between 1,200 and 1,300 households with fuel assistance, he said, but a backlog of applicants remain. 'The system is maxed out,' Brennan said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
