Collins’ “support for Trump might hurt her in a state that votes for Democrats”
Augusta, Maine – In case you missed it, Susan Collins is “submitting to the president’s will,” as she refuses to use the power and seniority she once campaigned on to stand up to her party, recent reporting highlights. The report points out Collins’ statement that budget negotiations “are above [her] pay grade,” while saying “the idea that an appropriations chairwoman would say this even a decade ago would be stunning.”
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The Independent: Trump puts the squeeze on two Republican critics. It could cost them reelection
By Eric Garcia
September 17, 2025
Collins also spent years working up the Republican ladder to move into leadership, in her case, as the chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which writes the budget.
She finds herself submitting to the president’s will.
Earlier this week, Trump said he wanted a “clean” continuing resolution to keep the government open. In response, Democrats pushed their own version. When The Independent asked Collins about the subject, she said simply, “those negotiations are above my pay grade,” and that “they’re being done by the leadership.”
The idea that an appropriations chairwoman would say this even a decade ago would be stunning.
But Trump has swallowed all of the authority that Republican leaders have. It virtually erases any case that they might make to their voters back home.
In Collins’s case, her support for Trump might hurt her in a state that votes for Democrats.
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