New reporting in Beacon digs into Senator Susan Collins’ relationship with the banking industry as their largest lobbying group has increased their spending to boost her campaign.

 

Senator Collins has consistently backed banking deregulation, including casting a deciding vote in 2017 to block consumers from suing banks and credit card companies. Now, the banking industry is returning the favor by spending hundreds of thousands on Maine’s airwaves as they attempt to rescue one of the private equity and securities industry’s favorite Senators.

 

Maine Beacon: After PPP windfall, big banks back Collins with new ads

 

By Alyce McFadden

September 28, 2020

 

Key Points:

 

  • The largest lobbying group for America’s banking industry has announced they’re spending an additional $100,000 in Maine’s U.S. Senate race, airing new ads in support of Sen. Susan Collins.

 

  • The ad buy brings the American Bankers’ Association’s (ABA) total spending on independent expenditures, communication costs and coordinated expenses in the Maine U.S. Senate race to $250,000, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics.

 

  • As of Sept. 8, the group’s PAC had also contributed an additional $10,000 directly to Collins’ re-election campaign.

 

  • In total, Collins’ campaign has received well over $1 million in contributions from the securities and investment industry over the course of the 2020 election cycle. 

 

  • The ABA ads tout Collins’ reputation for her role in designing the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), an initiative meant to help aid struggling small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.

 

  • In addition to including carve-outs for some big businesses and hotel chains, the policy Collins authored also generated $18 billion in revenue for the banking sector. For each PPP loan, the Small Business Administration paid a one to five percent fee to the lending bank.

 

  • “Wall Street is investing to prop up Collins’s campaign because they know that if she wins reelection she’ll continue to shield them from accountability while voting to help them rake in billions,” said Maine Democratic Party executive director Lisa Roberts in a statement.

 

  • “It’s obvious that Collins’ banking backers are terrified of losing her seat to someone who puts working Mainers first,” Roberts added. Collins’ Democratic challenger is Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon.

 

  • During the Trump administration, Collins has voted in favor of deregulating the banking industry on several occasions. In 2017, Collins cast a deciding vote to roll back a rule introduced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that allowed consumers to sue banks and credit card companies. Collins’ vote led to a 50-50 tie in the Senate, which Vice President Mike Pence ended with a vote against the regulation. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called the move “a giant wet kiss to Wall Street.”

 

  • Collins also supported President Donald Trump’s 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act, which has saved millions in taxes for corporations and wealthy Americans.