Portland, Maine – In case you missed it, today Maine Democrats gathered in Portland 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:
Born and raised Mainer, Maine Democratic Party Field Director Jay Bowie:
After nearly three decades in the Senate, Susan Collins is failing Maine. She’s bypassed opportunities to stop legislation that will have devastating impacts on Mainers across the state. Instead of having our backs, she has been more focused on having Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans’ backs.
Collins cost Mainers our health care when she voted to advance the Republicans' toxic budget bill that will rip away coverage from over 61,000 Mainers and shut down hospitals in order to pay for tax giveaways to billionaires.
Growing up, my family relied on programs like Medicaid – just like so many Maine families do. My father was disabled and in order for us to get health care coverage, and maintain coverage, we relied on this critical program. If it weren’t for Medicaid, as a young kid, I might not have been able to go to the doctor, get braces, or get basic care. There are thousands of families like mine and the way I lived growing up, worried about what the GOP’s cuts to health care and Medicaid funding will do. One clerical error, one late filing … and ruin on the other line.
Assistant House Majority Leader Rep. Lori Gramlich (D-Old Orchard Beach):
The harm that has come to Maine during Susan Collins' tenure in Washington DC is undeniable. [...] When given the opportunity to stand up for Maine, Collins has not done anything to stop the damage. She continues to support harmful policies and vote in favor of measures that hurt Mainers.
One of Collin's most damaging decisions was backing and advancing the GOP budget bill.[...] Mainers, including children and elderly, could go hungry with SNAP cuts being proposed, and I will tell you as a kid growing up we were on food stamps. [...] If we did not have that assistance, I don't know what we would have done. [...] This bill is also going to impact thousands of fishermen, who will potentially lose their MaineCare. Hospital closures and job losses will ripple across our state, all while giving billions in tax breaks to the wealthy, adding $3.9 trillion to our national debt.
What's worse, Collins won't face the people she represents. She dodges town hall meetings and avoids tough questions. [...] Mainers deserve a senator who shows up. Susan Collins does not.
Collins has used her power to push Trump's agenda, voting with him 96% of the time [...] supported extremist nominees like Brett Kavanaugh and RFK Jr. She has consistently chosen her party over principal and Mainers.
Rep. Sue Salisbury (D-Westbrook):
I stand here before you today as a mom, as a wife, as an aunt and a proud Democrat. For years […] I was a registered independent and what that meant to me was that I voted for Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. I trusted them to go to DC and to do what was right. [...] Olympia Snowe held up her end of the bargain. Susan Collins did not, and I realized that fully when she voted for and supported Brett Kavanaugh. Things changed for me. I decided I needed to be full in with the Democratic Party.
In Westbrook, I run a food pantry, Westbrook Families Feeding Families. And we've been in play for over 15 years and we finally have been in a place where people recognize that their neighbors and their community are food insecure. They donated freely to the food pantry. They supported in any way they could. In Maine, we were one of the first places in the United States that offer free breakfast and lunch to its students. All of that is at risk with this current bill – and Mainers need to recognize this: Susan Collins Cost Us and she did that by supporting these initiatives that are coming out of DC right now. All of the work that's happened over the last few decades that is all being undone now by the work that's happening in DC, she is at the helm of that.
Portland City Councilmember April Fournier:
Susan Collins was first elected to the Senate in 1996… That is too long to have had such a single-minded, out of touch, and disconnected person representing the people of Maine [...] I'm so done with her voting to advance harmful Supreme Court justices, and cabinet members … Her moral compass is broken. The track record of the harm she has caused to Mainers is as long as her term in office, and it's time for Susan Collins to go.
She could have stopped the big awful bill in its tracks and used her seniority and power to create real change, to preserve Medicaid, preserve SNAP and not give tax breaks to millionaires – and instead she pulled her classic signature move of moving it forward and voting against it only when they had the votes to pass it anyway. That's not leadership, that's not accountability, that's why Susan Collins has to go.
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