Campaign Action
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), facing tremendous pressure from her constituents in Maine over her vote for the massively destructive tax bill, is pedaling furiously to justify her vote. She's even gone so far as to suggest that maybe she won't vote for the final bill if her demands are met, then attempted to change her own goalposts.
"I would. 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. There's a real fear that the tax bill is going to trigger a 4% cut in Medicare. I am absolutely certain that 4% cut in Medicare that I mentioned will not occur. I have it in writing from both the Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and also Senator Mitch McConnell."
Here Collins is acting as though the only promise she extracted from Mitch McConnell in the tax bill was that Medicare would not be subject to additional automatic cuts, on top of the 2 percent cut in place from the sequester. Oh, but she has that "in writing" from McConnell and Paul Ryan. Yeah, well, when the sequester cuts were put in place in 2013, leadership promised that Medicare cuts would never, ever happen. That the Super Committee (remember that?) would step in and figure it all out. What happened? The Super Committee failed and dissolved.
Thousands of cancer patients were turned away from clinics because, yes, the 2 percent cuts kicked in and where they hit was in the loss of payments for expensive chemotherapy drugs. Now Medicare is facing a potential 4 percent cut on top of the 2 percent cut implemented four years ago. But sure, she's got a promise in writing that it won't happen this time.
That's not the only promise from McConnell she hung her vote on, though. Those who've been keeping track will remember that she also demanded votes on two stabilization bills for the Affordable Care Act. She got that in writing from McConnell, too. Which everyone but (maybe?) her knew was bullshit. Because who controls the House? Not McConnell. Not even Paul Ryan. The Freedom Caucus maniacs and allies. And what are they doing? "House conservatives thumb their nose at the Maine moderate's bid to slow the demise of the health law."
So spare us your assurances, Collins. You're either a fool or a charlatan. What's worse, the entire political world is debating which of those things you are. You have one shot at redemption. Vote against this bill when it comes back from conference. If you live in Maine, call her and tell her that.
Senator Susan Collins
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