(Source: Jason Reed/Reuters)
The Maine twins, Republican Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, have spoken and have positioned themselves to the left of President Obama. Let's hope they have the same clout they've had in past debates in
this one.
AUGUSTA, Maine — Don’t look for members of Maine’s congressional delegation to support cuts in Social Security or Medicare as part of the debt limit legislation, but all four say a debt reduction package that includes budget cuts and new revenues is likely.
“There are solvency problems with both programs,” Sen. Olympia Snowe said in an interview on Friday, “They have to be addressed but not as part of the debt reduction talks.”
She said any debt reduction plan worked out by President Barack Obama and congressional leaders will still need the support of members of both parties and both Medicare and Social Security have strong bipartisan support....
Sen. Susan Collins agreed. In an interview Friday she said the Senate has already voted to end the tax subsidy for ethanol production and that would save close to $6 billion a year. She said there are many other agricultural subsidies that should be repealed.
“We spend billions of dollars a year in subsidies that go to some very wealthy corporate farmers,” she said. “It has always troubled me that if you grow blueberries or potatoes you get absolutely no price subsidy, but if you grow corn, wheat, soybeans or rice you get a guaranteed price and the taxpayers pay the bill.”
That sounds pretty reasonable, though of course were Maine a corn, wheat, or soybean powerhouse, she probably wouldn't be taking that line. Even though she's absolutely right. But add two key Senate votes to the liberal Democrats in the Senate, and the number crunching gets more interesting.
(H/T ThinkProgress)
