Over and over, Senator Collins has failed to take action to fight for the policies that Mainers need, opting instead to express her disappointment with an ineffective letter of concern. This week, Maine Democrats will highlight the issues where Collins has refused to back up the words of her letters with action.
In 2018 and 2019, Senator Susan Collins sent three letters to the Trump Administration to ask it to reconsider its position, which was that the elimination of the individual mandate by the 2017 GOP tax bill made the entirety of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) unconstitutional, including its protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
What the letters intentionally don’t mention is that Collins actually signed an amicus brief arguing that without the individual mandate, the entire ACA could not stand, before she voted to repeal that mandate as part of the 2017 GOP tax bill. The Trump administration’s legal team will be arguing that she “knowingly voted to destroy the health care law” with her support for the tax bill when they argue the case before the Supreme Court one week after the general election.
Senator Collins voted a dozen times to repeal or undermine the ACA, and she laid the groundwork for the ongoing Republican lawsuit to strike down the health care law with her vote for the GOP tax bill. Now, health care is at risk for nearly 100,000 Mainers and the only thing Senator Collins has done to stop it is send a few letters.
“Mainers deserve a Senator who will fight for us, and we’re tired of Senator Collins failing to take action to protect our health care,” said Maine Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Marra. “Senator Collins’ letters don’t hide the fact that she paved the way for the lawsuit to eliminate the ACA, or her record of voting repeatedly to repeal and undermine it. Her failure to fight for affordable health care for all Mainers is disqualifying, and no letter can change that.”
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