Reform Rx - Snowe & Collins Redux

The United States Senate last night (2/2/10) voted on an amendment to the FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act for the stated purpose of: To repeal the job-killing health care law and health care-related provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

It failed completely along party lines (51-47) with our Senators Snowe and Collins joining the GOP minority to take away health care reforms for Maine people. We continue to be ill represented by both of our Senators. First each of them played drawn out games to weaken the original legislation substantively and now they continue to attack health care for all us by engaging in this showboat, kneel-to-the-tea-party vote to completely reverse and trash the entire effort.

You'll hear from them that their goal is to replace it with a better plan. The better plan time has past, they know it, and this is just one more attempt to reverse health care progress and set our gains back to zero. And despite constitutional bluster about mandates by Republicans, absolutely many essential reforms like covering pre-existing conditions will not work without a larger insurance pool and our Senators are ignoring such facts.

We must remember this in 2012 when Senator Snowe, endorsed by Governor LePage (who is himself moving us into an unwanted lawsuit to overturn health care reform) runs for re-election. Yes, this is the same Senator Snowe who voted in the Senate Finance Committee (her pre-existing position) to support a similar bill in 2009. Ever since then her commitment to reform has headed downhill to today voting to overturn the vital minimal reforms we desperately needed. We need to also remember Senator Collins continual gamesmanship on health care in 2014.

For more about the price Maine citizens will have to pay by any repeal of the Affordable Care Act for Maine citizens, follow this healthcare.gov link.

No Love Letter

Yes, Maine's Senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, have signed the letter (the link shows the signatures) below to block all legislation unless the Bush tax cuts are extended to the wealthy. That includes legislation to extend unemployment benefits as we approach the holidays and coldest months of the year. If you're rich throw some gold tinsel on the tree; if not make a pot of spruce soup for supper and burn a few branches to keep warm.

Not only did Collins and Snowe sign on to this blocking plan; they actually exposed their claims to be moderates as entirely bogus.

What greater indicator can you have than observing a professed moderate who may wield power to allow bills to come up for debate and a vote within a closely divided Senate where their single yea or nay might have actual impact moving something forward versus playing a waiting game that may lead to their yea or nay on some issues being far less effective in the next Senate year with an even larger minority with extra buffer votes less reliant on getting Collins or Snowe to play cloture ball?

Complicated? Not if you’re really not a moderate.

Dear Leader Reid,

The nation's unemployment level, stuck near 10 percent, is unacceptable to Americans. Senate Republicans have been urging Congress to make private-sector job creation a priority all year. President Obama in his first speech after the November election said "we owe" it to the American people to "focus on those issues that affect their jobs." He went on to say that Americans "want jobs to come back faster." Our constituents have repeatedly asked us to focus on creating an environment for private-sector job growth; it is time that our constituents' priorities become the Senate's priorities.

For that reason, we write to inform you that we will not agree to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to any legislative item until the Senate has acted to fund the government and we have prevented the tax increase that is currently awaiting all American taxpayers. With little time left in this Congressional session, legislative scheduling should be focused on these critical priorities. While there are other items that might ultimately be worthy of the Senate's attention, we cannot agree to prioritize any matters above the critical issues of funding the government and preventing a job-killing tax hike.

Given our struggling economy, preventing the tax increase and providing economic certainty should be our top priority. Without Congressional action by December 31, all American taxpayers will be hit by an increase in their individual income-tax rates and investment income through the capital gains and dividend rates. If Congress were to adopt the President's tax proposal to prevent the tax increase for only some Americans, small businesses would be targeted with a job-killing tax increase at the worst possible time. Specifically, more than 750,000 small businesses will see a tax increase, which will affect 50 percent of small-business income and nearly 25 percent of the entire workforce. The death tax rate will also climb from zero percent to 55 percent, which makes it the top concern for America's small businesses. Republicans and Democrats agree that small businesses create most new jobs, so we ought to be able to agree that raising taxes on small businesses is the wrong remedy in this economy. Finally, Congress still needs to act on the "tax extenders" and the alternative minimum tax "patch," all of which expired on December 31, 2009.

We look forward to continuing to work with you in a constructive manner to keep the government operating and provide the nation's small businesses with economic certainty that the job-killing tax hike will be prevented.

Find Wall - Bang Head.

Can Senator Susan Collins get anymore wishy-washy with her pretend moderate stance? Apparently not according to this piece at Talking Points Memo:

Today in outrageous new benchmarks for bipartisanship, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) says she'd be more likely to vote to ratify the START Treaty if former Presidents, George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush were to speak out in support of it.

To which the Huffington Post has this on-the-mark reaction:

It's almost comical at this point. The typical Beltway cant on Ms. Collins is that her long political career is due to her propensity for being a gutsy, independent thinker. What are her independent thoughts on the START treaty?

Sadly, we have a United States Senator representing Maine in Washington who masquerades as an independent voice of moderation but who always needs cover whenever risk of the right's scrutiny here or there is possible.

OK, let's stop banging our heads now, be sure to tell everyone you know about Susan Collins' falsetto independent-moderate voice.

Collins quid pro quo to LePage

Susan Collins endorsing Paul LePage is her quid pro quo for his endorsement of her in 2008 in which he lauded her perfect (that's attendance folks, not effectiveness) string of votes cast to regurgitate her exaggerated appall at Tom Allen missing a few votes. Here are excerpts from his March 2008 op-ed piece in the Morning Sentinel. Note that he opens with a not-to-subtle swipe at Collins pal, John McCain to burnish his pre-tea party bona fides.

Unlike the Presidential election this fall, Mainers have a clear-cut choice for who should represent our state in the United States Senate. For the past 12 years, Sen. Susan Collins has amassed a voting record second to none, which we have not seen in our state since the glory days of the Honorable Margaret Chase Smith. Sen. Collins is emulating the work begun by Sen. Smith, and unmistakably deserves the support of all Maine voters to return her to Washington as our U.S. senator.

and

Her opponent on the other hand, has time and again revealed an inability to show up to work in Congress. Unfortunately for Maine citizens, Rep. Tom Allen has been absent for well over 100 congressional votes. Mainers deserve better, and we must demand that when elected, our elected officials show up for the debate.

LePage just played the political investment market in his 2008 Collins backing; he was simply a ceremonial mayor with a bully-veto and a big dream. In reality the pay back from Collins in 2010 is the real story because it once again verifies her fidelity to her party's hard right. By he way, I doubt that Margaret Chase Smith would embrace today's anti-patriotic right wingers.

Texas Blogger Proves Parallel Universe!

There is apparently a parallel universe. I offer as proof what exists in this blogger's mind:

Ron Paul votes to repeal “Don’t ask, Don’t tell”

In the Senate, ultra liberal Republican Susan Collins of Maine followed Paul’s example and voted with Democrats in Committee to approve the same amendment.

It is apparently a long journey politically from Texas to Maine.

Collins' support is welcome on repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell but I agree with the sentiment expressed in this universe by the highly recommended Maine blog, Collins Watch:

But let's not pretend this makes Collins some sort of trailblazer for justice. It doesn't.

There was a time when this sort of stand would have really helped shake things up. But that time is long gone.

Mythical Moderate

DagBlog commentator Doctor Cleveland sees right through Susan Collins.

There are no moderate Republicans in the Senate any more. There are Republican Senators who were once moderates. There are Republican Senators who might depend upon moderate voters in, say, Maine. There are even Republican Senators who might vote moderately if they weren't actually, you know, in the Senate. But it in the actual world, every Republican Senator votes the same way, which means that they are all indistinguishable from Sam Brownback.

When the votes actually matter, Olympia Snowe votes like a hard-line conservative. So does Susan Collins. They're only moderates when nothing real is at stake. If you talk like a moderate but vote like a conservative, that means you actually are a conservative in the only way that matters. Because the votes get counted.

Believing in the mythical "moderate Senate Republicans" requires that the "moderates" not be held accountable for how they actually vote. They are allowed to obstruct legislation through relentless parliamentary maneuvers while complaining that the majority isn't "collegial" enough.

Stock Tip of the Day, Sell SCGS

Senator Susan Collins mustered up a bit of indignation and acted a bit chagrined at the Goldman Sachs hearing yesterday saying at one point, "I cannot help but get the feeling that the strategy of the witnesses is to try to burn through the time of each questioner." Without doubt, that was the official hearing strategy of Goldman Sachs. Delaying and obstructing to obscure reality seemed to work for the company.

One would think Senator Collins, instead of feinting exasperation would be more aggressive at uncovering Goldman Sachs wrongdoing to expose the firm’s corrupt practices, ethically challenged sidestepping, influence peddling, and shake down of the US economy over just getting a sound bite or two to express indignation to the economically disadvantaged back here in Maine. But perhaps too much grilling is not a good idea when the 10th largest source of Senator Collins’ donations in her last campaign came from…drum roll please…Goldman Sachs’ sources and connections to the tune of just shy of $24,000.

But that’s the past and we have the tendency to let bygones be bygones. The redeeming opportunity is always in the future when one takes to heart the vivid evidence of Goldman Sachs wrongdoing and when one has the power as a United States Senator to correct matters, set the record strait, and prevent future recurrences of the corrupt behavior by legislatively addressing the matter on behalf of her Maine constituents. So what did Senator Collins do after that frustrating hearing? She went to the Senate floor and voted to block debate on a bill that would increase regulation of the financial system.

Note: Senator Snowe and Senator Collins voted a third time to block debate regulation of the financial system moments ago.

Late Day Update: Despite Republicans now caving to allow debate, Senator Collins only proved that she is not an independent moderate and walks lock-step with the leadership the vast majority of the time. On Today Show, Senator Collins certainly came off as out of step with reality and out of balance with her own prior actions and statements:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Thank You, Susan!

After months (years?) of pretending to understand how her constituents feel about the Iraq War, Susan Collins (seen here telling us how well Homeland Security handled things in New Orleans) has finally taken a public stand supporting the patriarchy of King George rather than the Mainers who elected her.

This is, of course, the best possible news for Democrats. I'd loved to have been at Tom Allen's campaign headquarters yesterday when Collins' statement was announced. I heard it on Maine Public Radio (where else?), on my way into Augusta to mail some "begging letters" for a fundraising efforts, and cheered.

Sitting on the fence, talking the moderate line and voting the party line, is something both of Maine's Senators have become experts at. Collins' admission that she intends to vote to continue this bloody war is a clear departure from her usual MO, and I hope it will be just one more thing that will bury her under a landslide of Tom Allen votes next year.