After Senator Collins’ approval rating fell again in the first quarter, Mitch McConnell-aligned dark money group One Nation is going back on the air in Maine to try to prop up Collins’ languishing campaign.
This time, Senator Collins’ extreme right wing allies are trying to rewrite her disappointing record of support for Maine’s health care workers throughout the coronavirus crisis. The truth is, Senator Collins has failed to fight for our health care workers when it counts.
When the CARES Act was moving through the Senate, Collins pushed to pass an earlier draft of the bill that included $55 billion less in hospital funding, and even took to the Senate floor to denounce ongoing negotiations for more aid. Weeks later, during interim coronavirus relief negotiations, Collins called Senate Democrats’ efforts to secure more aid for hospitals “disgraceful.”
Collins has also defended Trump’s inadequate response to this crisis, which has left front line health care workers in Maine without the protective equipment they need. She even justified the Trump administration’s decision to only send Maine 21% of the PPE masks that state officials had requested by falsely claiming that those masks were allocated on a “per capita basis.” After a Portland Press Herald investigation revealed that was not the case, Senator Collins has been the only member of Maine’s Congressional delegation to not call for more transparency and accountability from Trump on PPE.
“While Mitch McConnell’s extreme right wing dark money allies will continue to paper over Senator Collins’ record, they can’t change the truth,” said Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Lisa Roberts. “Collins has repeatedly obstructed and opposed efforts to secure aid for our hospitals and health care workers. At a time when front line workers in Maine are leading the fight against an unprecedented threat, they deserve a Senator who fights to get them the resources they need to do their jobs safely. Senator Collins has consistently failed that test.”
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