ICYMI: Widespread Maine Coverage of Susan Collins’ Deciding Vote Allowing Trump to Raid Military Project Funding 

Despite promising to oppose Trump diverting funds from military projects to his border wall, Collins did the opposite with key vote in Appropriations Committee

In case you missed it, yesterday Senator Susan Collins was the deciding vote in the Appropriations Committee to kill a measure to “restrict Trump's ability to reprogram money for the wall.” This is the opposite of what Collins had told Mainers she would do on this issue.

In response to this flip-flop, Collins received negative coverage and scrutiny in Maine:

  • Portland Press Herald: Collins’ vote on border wall measure becomes fodder for Democrats
    • “U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine took heat from Democrats on Thursday for voting against an amendment to a broad defense spending bill that was intended to block President Trump from diverting military funds for the construction of a wall on the southern border. … Maine Democratic Party Chairwoman Kathleen Marra blasted Collins for the vote in a statement Thursday. ‘If Sen. Collins were serious about preventing the president from raiding funds Congress had already set aside for military bases across the country, she would have voted to support this measure,’ Marra said in the statement. ‘Instead she was the deciding vote against it.’”

 

  • Bangor Daily News: Senate panel advances defense budget while turning back Democratic bids to thwart Trump wall
    • “The Senate Appropriations Committee — including Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine — backed Trump in party-line votes … [Democrats] were furious about Trump’s moves to raid $3.6 billion in military base construction projects to pay for 11 additional border fence segments totaling 175 miles in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. But Republicans voted down proposals by the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, to block Trump from repeating the maneuver. … The group included Collins"

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  • Associated Press: Senate Republicans back Trump on border wall funding
    • “A Republican-controlled Senate committee has rejected Democratic attempts to cut Trump's border wall request and his moves to pay for the project without congressional approval.”
    • “But Republicans voted down proposals by the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, to block Trump from repeating the maneuver. They also defeated a Democratic proposal to shift $3.6 billion from Trump’s border wall request to other domestic accounts.”​​​​​​​

 

  • Maine Beacon: Despite previous statements, Collins votes down measure to halt Trump border wall
    • “Despite previous statements in opposition to President Donald Trump’s declaration of an emergency at the southern border — which he says allows him to divert military funds to build a wall —  Sen. Susan Collins cast the deciding vote Thursday in the Appropriations Committee to kill a measure that would have prevented him from doing just that. The measure was an amendment, proposed by U.S. Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), to a defense spending bill that would have prevented the president from diverting money Congress had set aside for specific military projects to the border wall project.”
    • “Collins argued that Senators opposed to Trump’s diversion of funding could vote for a separate measure on the Senate floor terminating Trump’s national emergency declaration. That resolution, however, could be vetoed by the president and is ultimately unlikely to be effective. Collins garnered front-page headlines earlier this week for her statements in favor of that resolution.”

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