A certain US Senator from Maine seems worried about losing her reelection campaign.
Even though Donald Trump started a war of choice with Iran that he didn’t bother to consult with Democrats on, Sen. Susan Collins thinks that the vote on giving the war effort $200 billion should be bipartisan.
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The Trump administration will soon ask for Iran war funding, and some Republicans don’t want to use the party-line budget reconciliation process to deliver it. “That would not be my preference. I understand the need to get this through, but it seems to me that it would be best to go through the appropriations process,” Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, told Semafor.
Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., agreed, but predicted Democrats won’t go along: “It’s probably going to have to be a party-line reconciliation push, unfortunately.” Republicans are still digesting the $200 billion number the Pentagon presented to the White House, and Collins is wondering whether intelligence community, farm aid, and Pell Grant funding will be in the package. “The administration will need to make its case. Clearly, there’s going to need to be additional spending,” said Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo.
What this means is that Republicans see Trump’s war as a loser with voters in the midterm election, and they don’t want to be viewed as funding it by themselves. They want to rope Democrats into this and spread the blame.
The bipartisanship that Collins is now seeking to pay for a war that the vast majority of the country and Democrats oppose was barely found when Democrats were trying to prevent health insurance premiums from increasing for more than 20 million Americans.
Here are the votes that Sen. Collins cast: