Susan Collins

Susan Margaret Collins, a Republican, has been the junior U.S. Senator from Maine since 1996.

Iraq War
Collins voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 that started the Iraq War.

Statements and action on the Iraq war
Statements made by Susan Collins:


 * March 27, 2007: If Bush's strategy in Iraq does not show "significant results" by fall, "then Congress should consider all options including a redefinition of our mission and a gradual but significant withdrawal of our troops next year."

Resolution opposing the troop "surge"
On February 5, 2007, Collins was one of two Republican Senators who crossed party lines and voted to open debate on a bill opposing President Bush's troop "surge" in Iraq. The measure failed 49-47. Later on February 17, 2007, Collins was one of seven Republicans to cross party lines and vote in favor of cloture on another non-binding resolution opposing the troop "surge." That measure failed 56-34.

Environmental record
For more information on environmental legislation, see the Energy and Environment Policy Portal

Ethics reform
In 2006, Collins introduced a bill to establish an independent congressional oversight committee, the Office of Public Integrity. On March 2, 2006, however, the bill was defeated in a Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee vote of 11-5. Later that month when the Lobbying Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 was under consideration on the floor of the Senate, Sen. Collins introduced her Office of Public Integrity bill as an amendment to the overall reform package. Her amendment failed 30-67.

Senate filibusters and the Gang of 14
On May 23, 2005, Collins was one of fourteen senators from both parties that struck a deal over the Democrats' use of the judicial filibuster, thus blocking the Republican leadership's attempt to implement the so-called "nuclear option". Under the agreement, the Democrats would retain the power to filibuster a Bush judicial nominee only in an "extraordinary circumstance", and the three most conservative Bush appellate court nominees (Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen and William H. Pryor, Jr.) would receive a vote by the full Senate.

Executive power
In July 2006 Collins gave her support to a bill by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) that would allow Congress to file a lawsuit to get presidential signing statements declared unconstitutional. 


 * For further details see the Congresspedia article on presidential signing statements.

Sam Pattern link
In the past Sam Patten has served as a legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Susan Collins advising her on foreign policy and defense issues. 

Term limits
Sen. Collins reneged on her pledge to only serve for at most 12 years, or 2 only terms, in the Senate. During a campaign appearance in 1996, she answered "Yes" to a question about whether she would pledge to only serve 12 years in the Senate. In 2002, Collins stated in a letter to a constituent her continued pledge to serve only 12 years in the Senate, "I intend to serve only two terms as I indicated in the Sanford forum six years ago." On October 12, 2006 Collins stated that she was breaking her pledge and would seek another six year term in the Senate. Collins justified her new position stating that her viewpoint on seniority has changed, "At the time, I thought that 12 years, that two terms, would be enough. This was at the height of what I would call the frenzy over term limits."

Background
Collins was born December 7, 1952 in Caribou, Maine. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of St. Lawrence University. She worked for Senator William Cohen from 1975 until 1987, when she became chair of the Maine commission on financial regulation. She served in this position until 1992, when she briefly served as New England regional director of the National Small Business Administration. She then moved to Massachusetts and served as its Deputy Treasurer in 1993, but then moved back to Maine. She was the Republican candidate in the Maine gubernatorial election of 1994, but both she and the Democratic candidate, former Governor Joe Brennan, were defeated by the Independent candidate, Angus King.

Senate Career
When Senator William Cohen announced his retirement, Collins announced her Senate candidacy, and after a difficult three-way primary she defeated Democrat Joe Brennan in the 1996 general election. She was reelected in 2002 over State Senator Chellie Pingree (D) 58% - 42%.

In the U.S. Senate, Collins played a role during the Senate's impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton, when she and fellow Maine Senator Olympia Snowe sponsored a motion that would have allowed the Senate to vote separately on the charges and the remedy. When the motion failed, both Snowe and Collins subsequently voted to acquit, believing that while Clinton had broken the law by committing perjury, the charges did not amount to grounds for removal from office.

Labeled as a moderate or liberal Republican, Collins often breaks with her party. She voted against the ban on partial-birth abortions, the restrictions on travel to Cuba, harsher punishments for drug users, and she opposed amending the U.S. Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriages. On taxation and trade she has taken a more moderate line, voting against some trade agreements, most recently CAFTA. In 2001 she was one of only four Republicans to vote to limit the reduction in the top tax rate and to increase the amount of tax relief for those at the bottom of the income scale. In 2003 she was the only Republican to vote in favor of spending a portion of the tax cut reserved for upper-income payers on the building of hospitals in rural areas. She has voted against drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and in favor of increasing the average mile-per-gallon requirement for vehicles. In September of 2005, Collins cosponsored a resolution with Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), which disapproved a new rule put in place by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency that delisted coal and some other energy sources from the Clean Air Act. The resolution failed by a vote of 47-51.

2008 election
Collins has confirmed she is running for reelection in the 2008 congressional elections.

Money in politics
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Committees and Affiliations

 * Board of Governors for the Partnership for Public Service.
 * Member of the Aspen Strategy Group

Committees in the 110th Congress (2007-2008)

 * Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs - Ranking Member
 * Senate Special Committee on Aging
 * Senate Committee on Armed Services
 * Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities
 * Subcommittee on Personnel
 * Subcommittee on Seapower

Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)

 * Senate Special Committee on Aging
 * Senate Committee on Armed Services
 * Subcommittee on Personnel
 * Subcommittee on Seapower
 * Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities
 * Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs, Chair

Coalitions and Caucuses

 * The Republican Main Street Partnership
 * The Republican Majority For Choice
 * Republicans For Choice
 * The Wish List
 * Republicans For Environmental Protection
 * Its My Party Too.

Twitter
 Susan Collins posts on Twitter at http://twitter.com/senatorcollins/

Latest posts: http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/senatorcollins.rss|title=none| max=3| short See all the members of Congress who Twitter

Resources

 * Official website
 * See how you compare to Susan Collins

External articles

 * Elan Schor, "Rep. Davis threatens subpoenas," The Hill, November 10, 2005.
 * Alan K. Ota, "Few Republicans Back Specter Bid to Curb Bush’s Use of Signing Statements," CQ, July 25, 2006.
 * Darryl Fears, "IRS Ends 2-Year Probe Of NAACP's Tax Status. Leader's Criticism of Bush in 2004 Did Not Violate Law, Agency Decides," Washington Post, September 1, 2006.
 * Dan Aibel, "The Case Against Susan Collins," Contrapositive, November 24, 2006.
 * "President Bush Signs Senator Collins' Postal Reform Bill Into Law," Boothbay Register (ME), December 28, 2006.
 * KayInMaine, "Sen. Susan Collins is Tooting Her Own Horn," White Noise Insanity Blogspot, December 30, 2006. re News Release: "President's Statement on H.R. 6407, the 'Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act'," Office of the White House Press Secretary, December 20, 2006.
 * James Gordon Meek, "What'd you do to my mail bill, Mr. Prez?" New York Daily News, January 5, 2007.
 * KayInMaine, "Sen. Susan Collins is Feeling the Effect of Loyalty," White Noise Insanity Blogspot, January 6, 2007.
 * "Susan Collins changes her mind," Morning Sentinel (MaineToday.com), February 26, 2007.
 * Joe Sudbay, "Susan Collins (R-ME) screwed over Maine (and the nation) on Real ID," AMERICAblog, March 3, 2007. re REAL ID Act of 2005
 * Jim Harper, "Collins and Chertoff Fight to Save the National ID," Cato Institute, March 9, 2007.
 * "A New Seating Chart," WSJ Washington Wire Blog, March 9, 2007.
 * kayinmaine, "Susan Collins' Character Will Be Taken Into Account in 2008," White Noise Insanity, March 11, 2007; crossposted at Turn Maine Blue.
 * Daniel Friedman, "Senate bill toughens travel card rules," Federal Times, March 12, 2007.
 * kayinmaine, "Susan Collins & Joe Lieberman Need a Good Smacking," White Noise Insanity, March 12, 2007.
 * Mike Sheehan, "'Kumbaya moments' as lawmakers told to sit together," The Raw Story, March 12, 2007.
 * "Senate vote reconfirms union rights for airport screeners," Wolters Kluwer CCH.com, March 13, 2007.
 * Joe Sudbay, "Susan Collins is very thin-skinned -- and she's already freaking out," AMERICAlbog, April 7, 2007.
 * John Aravosis, "Ask Susan Collins, Norm Coleman and John Sununu just how well the Democratic message on Iraq is selling," AMERICAblog, April 23, 2007.
 * Joe Sudbay, "Rick Santorum and Susan Collins have so much in common including Supreme Court justices and the Iraq War," AMERICAblog, April 26, 2007.
 * Joe Sudbay, "In Maine, it's official. Tom Allen is running for Senate against Susan Collins," AMERICAblog, May 8, 2007. See Tom Allen U.S. congressional elections in 2008 website: http://www.tomallen.org/.
 * Joe Sudbay, "Susan Collins was all for using the war for her campaign in '02. Now, she claims she's against it," AMERICAblog, July 18, 2007.
 * Phoenix Woman, "The Rubber-Stampers’ Latest Contortion," Firedoglake Blog, July 30, 2007.
 * kos, "ME-Sen: Collins' slammed by local paper," The Daily Kos, August 20, 2007.
 * Joe Sudbay, "Susan Collins up to her old dirty tricks," AMERICAblog, August 20, 2007.
 * "Media Campaign Goes After Four GOP Senators for Their Iraq Support," AlterNet, September 7, 2007.

Local blogs and discussion sites

 * Collins Watch
 * COLLINSWATCH