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The political world is embroiled in a debate right now: is Susan Collins a dupe or a liar? Neither of those alternatives put Collins in a particularly flattering light, but she did it to herself by accepting (or seeming to accept) worthless promises from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell—promises that any person who's served in the Senate for two decades would know were hollow. McConnell isn't in charge of the House and he's not in charge of the Democrats—the two entities that the deal for her vote hinged upon. Maybe now aware of the terrible and embarrassing position she's put herself into, she's suggesting her vote won't be there for McConnell when the bill comes out of conference. Maybe.
“I‘m going to look at what comes out of the conference committee meeting to reconcile the differences between the Senate and House bill. So I won’t make a final decision until I see what that package is,” she said on the CBS “Face the Nation” program on Sunday. […]
Collins said she is “absolutely confident” of the leaders’ support and both McConnell and Ryan have put in writing that they will not allow a 4 percent cut in Medicare payments to take effect.
“I have read in correspondence that memorializes the agreement that the 4 percent cut in Medicare that could go into effect will not go into effect,” she said.
Yes, McConnell and Ryan have said that they would prevent automatic cuts to Medicare but there's no guarantee at all that Ryan can achieve that in the House. And while Ryan is saying on the one hand he'll protect Medicare from these cuts triggered by the tax bill, he's already calling for Medicare cuts once they get this massive deficit boosting tax cuts bill through and have the excuse to chop the program. Who does Collins think she's kidding here with her Paul Ryan "commitment." The same people who we believe her when she says this about Donald Trump's promises on Medicare: "I have no reason to believe that that commitment will not be kept." Collins clearly has not been paying attention.
As for her other conditions, that the Congress take up two bills stabilizing Obamacare, we're back to House Republicans balking and Ryan making it crystal clear that he wasn't part of that negotiation at all, and is not bound by it in anyway. But there's the larger issue, which as a policy-maker who has at some point in her life been serious Collins should understand. That's that experts are pretty much unified in pointing out that these "fixes" won't undo the damage that the repeal of the Obamacare mandate she voted for in the tax bill.
All in all, it sucks to be Susan Collins right now. As it should. If you live in Maine, keep the pressure on her.
Senator Susan Collins
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