Augusta, Maine – In case you missed it, today Maine Democrats hosted a press call to highlight Susan Collins’ record of costing Mainers their health care, their rights, and a real leader in the Senate who prioritizes Maine. This is part of the Maine Democratic Party’s “Collins Cost Us” August recess campaign.
Here are some key moments:
Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Devon Murphy-Anderson: “Susan Collins has Cost Us. She has cost us our health care. She has cost us freedom. She has cost us the representation that we as Mainers and as Americans deserve. After nearly 30 years in the Senate, Susan Collins is failing Maine. Collins has passed on numerous opportunities to forcefully stand up to stop legislation that will have devastating impacts on Maine. Instead, she has greenlit the advancement of those harmful bills and continues to have Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans’ backs.”
State Sen. Denise Tepler (D-Sagadahoc): About the time that she voted to advance the one big not so beautiful bill, my husband said to me, ‘I thought Margaret Chase Smith was Susan Collins’ image of the great Maine Republican legislator, what happened? Why doesn't she show that kind of courage? Why isn't she standing up for Maine?’ [...] I have a lot of fishing families like Devon's in my district, and I worry a lot about how all of these factors [of cuts in the GOP budget bill] are going to affect their families and their ability to keep fishing and preserving the heritage that we have in the fishing industry. As chair of the Marine Resources Committee, I'm particularly concerned.
State Rep. Holly Stover (D-Boothbay): “For decades Maine has paid a price of Susan Collins’ failures, lies, and self-preservation. [...] In 2018, Susan Collins cast one of the most consequential votes of her career: she voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. We warned her. We knew what was at stake. Women across this state and country begged her to oppose [Kavanaugh’s confirmation]. And yet, she made the decisive vote to confirm him anyway. Maine deserves better. [...] We deserve a Senator who shows up, who listens, who keeps their word. Someone who doesn’t hide from the people they represent.”
Physician Patty Hymanson: “The provisions of HR1 take slashes to our health care system, raising costs and administrative burdens. [...] Shaming and burdening struggling Mainers, forcing them to take risks where they then run into trouble with their health, injures me morally as a physician. Strains on our health care system already exist and hospitals will likely make difficult decisions. Those who voted for this law to move forward can be held accountable for the harms now.”
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