Susan Collins – News Stories About Susan Collins - Page 5

Health Care
Acrimony Could
Kill Climate Bill

Dec 22, 2009 9:03 AM CST

Health Care Acrimony Could Kill Climate Bill

Dems need support of Republicans, who aren't feeling friendly

(Newser) - Key GOP senators are warning that the bitter health care battle could spill over into the climate change bill, delaying it or scuttling it outright. Normally clubby senators are nursing wounds and blaming Democrats for the fiercely partisan wrangling. “It makes it hard to do anything because of the...

Senate Sends Obama
$1.1T Spending Bill

Dec 13, 2009 3:54 PM CST

Senate Sends Obama $1.1T Spending Bill

3 Republicans vote yea, 3 Dems vote nay

(Newser) - Working on a second consecutive weekend, the Senate passed a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill today, with the support of three Republicans but the opposition of three Democrats. The measure has already cleared the House and now advances to President Obama, who is expected to sign it. With pressing...

Senate Targets
Insurance
Exec Pay

rare saturday debate

Dec 5, 2009 9:40 AM CST

Senate Targets Insurance Exec Pay

Meanwhile GOP will keep battling Medicare cuts

(Newser) - Democratic senators are taking aim at insurance industry executive pay today as they jockey for advantage in a rare weekend session to debate health care overhaul. Republicans will be targeting the bill's cuts to Medicare, seeking to undermine support among seniors. With talks on the key divisive issues of abortion...

Reid Goes for
Broke With Public
Option Bill

Oct 23, 2009 7:46 AM CDT

Reid Goes for Broke With Public Option Bill

Senate majority leader banks on 60 votes, infuriates Baucus

(Newser) - Harry Reid is preparing to bring a health reform bill that includes a public option to the floor of the Senate, gambling that his 60-member caucus will support the plan if it contains opt-out measures for individual states. The majority leader and other senators met with Barack Obama yesterday to...

Maine's Other Senator
Could Swing
Health Reform

Oct 22, 2009 7:15 AM CDT

Maine's Other Senator Could Swing Health Reform

Eyes turn to Susan Collins as Dems ramp up courtship

(Newser) - Last week Sen. Olympia Snowe was the center of attention of Capitol Hill as she bucked the GOP line to support health care reform, but now Maine's other Republican senator, Susan Collins, is the one to watch. Both women voted for President Obama's stimulus package in February, and Democrats and...

Six Senate
Swing Votes

HEALTH REFORM

Oct 14, 2009 12:55 PM CDT

Six Senate Swing Votes

From Dems who swing right to left-leaning GOPers, debate promises suspense

(Newser) - As health care reform bills merge and change on the Senate floor, the pool of legislators to watch has grown. The Wall Street Journal takes a look:

Olympia Snowe, R-Maine: Her vote for the Finance Committee bill was clutch, but "doesn't forecast what my vote will be tomorrow,"

...

Nothing Wrong With Czars, Experts Testify

Oct 7, 2009 7:41 AM CDT

Nothing Wrong With Czars, Experts Testify

But GOP's Collins vows to keep the 'issue' alive with more hearings

(Newser) - The anti-czar crusade hit quite the speed bump yesterday, when five constitutional scholars testified in a Senate hearing that it was indeed perfectly legal for the president to have policy advisers. They said the principle dated back to FDR and that, assuming the czars didn’t have any actual legal...

Congress, Military Question
'Protect Afghans' Rule

Sep 23, 2009 9:38 AM CDT

Congress, Military Question 'Protect Afghans' Rule

(Newser) - With US casualties mounting in Afghanistan, some members of Congress are questioning recent orders that have put troops at greater risk in order to protect Afghan civilians, the Washington Post reports. Gen. Stanley McChrystal recently berated the military for being “preoccupied with protection of our own forces.” He...

Bill Clinton:
Obama Will Win Health Battle

INTERVIEW

Sep 18, 2009 7:19 AM CDT

Bill Clinton: Obama Will Win Health Battle

Up to 6 GOP senators may back Baucus bill, says former president

(Newser) - Barack Obama will prevail in his fight to pass a health reform bill, his predecessor Bill Clinton insists in an interview with Bloomberg. The former president predicts that Olympia Snowe and probably Susan Collins, Maine's two moderate Republican senators, will be persuaded to vote for the Baucus bill, which he...

6 Conservatives
Worth Obama's Time

OPINION

Jun 10, 2009 2:48 PM CDT

6 Conservatives Worth Obama's Time

(Newser) - There are a few in the conservative camp who the Obama administration respects. “By respect, I mean, quite simply, the degree to which the White House responds to their worries and needs and believes that the time spent responding is useful and necessary,” Marc Ambinder writes in the...

Senators Rank
Bipartisan Colleagues

Apr 21, 2009 8:23 AM CDT

Senators Rank Bipartisan Colleagues

Kennedy, Collins named most bipartisan

(Newser) - If you want to reach across the aisle in the Senate, chances are you're stretching toward Ted Kennedy or Susan Collins, according to a Hill survey of the upper chamber. “I’d love to co-sponsor every piece of legislation with Ted Kennedy,” says Sen. Richard Burr. The most...

Senate Centrists Hold
House Dems Hostage

Feb 17, 2009 3:24 PM CST

Senate Centrists Hold House Dems Hostage

Stick up to Reid, Dems urge Pelosi

(Newser) - The Senate requires 60 votes to avoid filibuster, so the 58-strong Democrats are at the mercy of centrist Republicans Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins. Politico reports that House Dems, who have no trouble passing bills on their own, are unhappy that their legislation has to run this gauntlet....

Obama Needs Maine Senators

analysis

Feb 12, 2009 3:05 PM CST

Obama Needs Maine Senators

Snowe, Collins are backbone of administration's bipartisan coalition

(Newser) - Maine’s moderate Republican senators find themselves unexpectedly empowered in the Obama era. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, along with Pennsylvania’s Arlen Specter, form the bipartisan wedge President Obama can use to get bills—like the stimulus package—past a Senate filibuster. After years of being taken for granted...

Conservative PAC Puts GOP Stimulus Backers 'On Notice'

Feb 11, 2009 8:37 AM CST

Conservative PAC Puts GOP Stimulus Backers 'On Notice'

Three senators face conservative wrath

(Newser) - So much for bipartisanship. A conservative political action committee is pledging to support primary challenges to the three Republican senators who backed the compromise economic stimulus package, CNN reports. It's the right wing’s latest public show of dissatisfaction with Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine and Arlen Specter...

Senate Passes Stimulus Bill

Feb 10, 2009 12:02 PM CST

Senate Passes Stimulus Bill

(Newser) - The Senate passed its version of the $838 billion stimulus bill today, in a 61-37 vote, the Wall Street Journal reports. Three moderate Republicans—Susan Collins, Arlen Specter, and Olympia Snowe—jumped across the aisle to prevent a filibuster. Now the House and Senate must reconcile the differences between their...

President Gets Personal With Swing Senators

Feb 5, 2009 10:22 AM CST

President Gets Personal With Swing Senators

Holds highly unusual 1-on-1 meetings with stimulus holdouts

(Newser) - President Obama is reaching across the aisle to moderate senators whose votes are crucial to passage of the economic stimulus bill. He put in a call to John McCain, who has been a vocal critic of the bill’s current incarnation. “We'd like to sit down and try to...

Senate Dems Don't Have
Votes to Pass Stimulus

Feb 4, 2009 9:23 AM CST

Senate Dems Don't Have Votes to Pass Stimulus

Senate moderates, GOP insist on stripping out billions

(Newser) - President Obama’s first big bill, the stimulus package passed by the House, lacks the votes to clear a Senate filibuster, reports the Washington Post. Senate moderates are proposing to strip $200 billion in spending to win GOP supporters. Says Democratic whip Dick Durbin, “100 decisions” will be “...

GOP Goes
Easy on
Daschle,
For Now

Feb 1, 2009 4:59 PM CST

GOP Goes Easy on Daschle, For Now

Key Senators will wait to learn more about tax problems

(Newser) - Influential Republicans are holding their tongues on Tom Daschle's tax troubles for now, Politico reports. GOP Senators Jon Kyl, Mitch McConnell, Jim DeMint, and Susan Collins all adopted a wait-and-see approach on today’s talk shows. “I want to find out more about it,” DeMint said of the...

Senate Queasy on Spending in Obama Stimulus

TALK SHOW ROUNDUP

Feb 1, 2009 11:30 AM CST

Senate Queasy on Spending in Obama Stimulus

Kyl: 'Start from scratch;' McConnell vows Dems won't get 60 seats

(Newser) - The level of spending in Barack Obama’s House-approved $819 billion stimulus package will complicate its Senate passage, say two senators whose support will be crucial. “Unfortunately, this bill has become a Christmas tree,” Republican Susan Collins told CNN, while Democratic colleague Ben Nelson said, “There’s...

Maverick McCain
Back in Action

Jan 23, 2009 9:25 AM CST

Maverick McCain Back in Action

But for some Republicans, Mac's just a pain

(Newser) - Too bad John McCain couldn’t get this story written before the election: the New York Times reports that, back in the Senate, McCain is reverting from his dour, orthodox campaign persona to his maverick and frequently bipartisan ways. He’s been hanging out with President Obama, and he told...