Support Our Journalism

Smart. Sharp. Funny. Fearless

Politics National News World Economy Lifestyle Store

Tag: senate republicans

Busted! Collins Advanced Trump Budget Bill After $2M Donation

As she gears up for a tough midterm race against a progressive challenger in 2026, Sen. Susan Collins is struggling to shake her reputation as a sellout to corporate interests. A new report out Wednesday may make that even more difficult.

Collins (R-ME) was one of just three Republican senators not to vote for President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" Act in July, which slashes over $1 trillion from Medicaid to help pay for tax cuts for the rich and is expected to result in over 10 million people losing health insurance coverage.

But Collins did cast a crucial vote to advance the legislation to the Senate floor. An exclusive report from Tessa Stuart in Rolling Stone gives us damning insight into a possible reason why:

[Collins] cast that vote just one day after private equity billionaire Steve Schwarzman, the chair of the Blackstone Group and a man who will personally reap huge rewards from the bill, kicked in $2 million toward her reelection effort.On June 27, Schwarzman gave $2 million to Pine Tree Results PAC, a Super PAC backing Collins; on June 28, Collins cast a decisive vote allowing Trump's bill to advance to the floor. The vote was 51-49. Vice President JD Vance was present at the Capitol, on hand to break a tie, but was not needed after Collins voted in favor of the bill.
The bill went on to pass the Senate just a few days later, to Schwarzman's presumed delight, since the legislation both extended the pass-through business deduction—treasured by the owners of private equity firms—and made it permanent, allowing partnerships to deduct 20% of their pre-tax income.

Collins' office has strongly denied that Schwarzman's influence had anything to do with her vote to advance the bill. As press secretary Blake Kernen noted, a tie in the Senate would have been broken by Vance, so "the motion to proceed would have passed without her vote."

However, Stuart notes that this was not Collins' first conspicuous donation from Schwarzman or the private equity industry at large.

According to OpenSecrets, Collins' campaign committee and leadership PAC received over $715,000 from private equity and investment firms—more money than any other person elected to Congress during the 2020 election cycle. It included maximum individual contributions from both Schwarzman and his wife.

That number does not include an additional $2 million that Schwarzman donated to her reelection super PAC in 2020. As Stuart points out, this donation came after Collins dropped a proposed amendment to Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, opposed by private equity. That amendment would have "[made] childcare more affordable, by making changes to the private equity industry's beloved carried interest loophole," Stuart wrote.

While Collins denies that her votes are influenced by the piles of money gifted to her by private equity, one of her most formidable challengers in 2026, oyster farmer and Marine veteran Graham Platner, has often seized on her extensive industry ties to hold her up as the poster child for the "oligarchy" he is trying to unseat from power.

"I believe that input from working people is far more important than input from someone who simply has money," Platner thundered during a Labor Day speech in Portland alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). "I believe that we shouldn't be settling for crumbs while billionaires eat the cookie we baked. I don't think private equity deserves more time with a senator than someone who works two jobs to get by."

If Democrats are going to regain the Senate in 2026, Maine will be an essential state to win, something that looks increasingly possible as approval ratings for Collins have plummeted over the first half-year of Trump's second term.

Nearly 7,000 attended Platner's speech, during which he railed against the five-term senator Collins' long history of casting "symbolic" dissenting votes against her party, like opposing Trump's tax legislation, or voting to codify Roe v. Wade, to posture as a "moderate" without actually disrupting their agenda.

"Susan Collins' charade is wearing thin," Platner said Monday. "No one cares that you pretend to be remorseful as you sell out to lobbyists. No one cares while you sell out to corporations, and no one cares while you sell out to a president, who are all engineering the greatest redistribution of wealth from the working class to the ruling class in American history."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Booed In Maine, Collins Faces Dimming Prospects In Midterm

When Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) spoke at a late August ribbon-cutting ceremony in her state, she was aggressively booed and heckled by attendees. This booing was quite a contrast to the enthusiastic support she enjoyed in Maine in the past, when she was reelected by 23 percent in 2008 and 37 percent in 2014.

Maine voters were quite willing to split their tickets in 2008, choosing Barack Obama in the presidential race while voting overwhelmingly to give Republican Collins another term in the U.S. Senate.

MSNBC's Steve Benen, in an opinion column published on August 28, stresses that the booing Collins recently suffered underscores a broader problem in the GOP. President Donald Trump's economic policies, according to Benen, are wildly unpopular — and even a moderate conservative like Collins is having a hard time distancing herself from them.

The recent booing, according to Benen, is quite a contrast to 2017 — when she voted "no," along with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), on a Trump-backed bill that would have overturned the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (also known as "Obamacare").

"In July 2017," Benen recalls, "Republican Sen. Susan Collins made a routine trip home, as she'd done countless times during her lengthy congressional career. But this time, her arrival was quite a bit different: After walking into the terminal at Bangor International Airport, the senator was greeted with spontaneous applause. There was no great mystery as to why: Collins had just voted to derail the Republican Party's far-right health care gambit, and relieved Mainers apparently wanted to show their appreciation for her having done the right thing to protect the public from her own party's agenda."

Benen adds, "Collins, receiving the kind of outpouring of support most members of Congress can only dream of, described the scene as 'amazing.' Eight years later, the GOP incumbent is facing a very different kind of public reception in her home state."

Collins, now in her fifth term, is up for reelection in the 2026 midterms — and the recent booing, according to Benen, "probably wasn't encouraging."

"Collins' detractors raised a variety of points, though at this specific event, a local report from the Midcoast Villager noted, 'Detractors questioned Collins’ role in celebrating new spending while President Donald Trump and her fellow Republicans in Congress push through federal budget cuts to health care, food assistance and other services.'"

Benen continues, "The senator has argued that when her party's far-right megabill recently came to the Senate floor, she voted against it. That's true. But it's also true that when the inaptly named One Big Beautiful Bill Act needed to clear a key procedural hurdle a few days earlier, which allowed senators to advance the radical legislation, Collins voted with her party and the megabill's proponents — even as some other Senate Republicans sided with the package's Democratic opponents. Some of her constituents appear to have noticed."

Collins, now in her fifth term, is up for reelection in the 2026 midterms — and the recent booing, according to Benen, "probably wasn't encouraging."

by Taboola Sponsored LinksYou May Like Why Appetite Patches Are Suddenly Everywhere50&Beyond

Steve Benen's full MSNBC column is available at this link.

Report typos and corrections to: feedback@alternet.org.

Do you think Trump’s influence is weakening within the Republican Party?

'I'm very good at grass': Trump goes off-script in bizarre rantDiscover This single sentence will fast-track Trump to a prison cellDiscover The Motley FoolExperts think this could be like buying Nvidia at $0.16Read MoreSkip Keeps getting worse: Timeline of Trump's futile Epstein diversions details his newest scamDiscover 'Dementia alert': Trump’s bizarre 'grass' rant raises alarmDiscover Are These New Appetite Patches Worth the Attention?50&Beyond|Sponsored The Shampoo That’s Changing Men’s LivesWellness+Lab|Sponsored Massachusetts Residents With Credit Card Debt Could Be In For Loan-Free ReliefForbes|Sponsored Nantucket: Here’s The Average Price of a 6-Hour Gutter UpgradeHomebuddy.com|Sponsored Before You Blame Low Vitamin B, Learn The Real Cause of NeuropathyFootRenew|Sponsored Flight Attendant Reveals How Seniors Can Fly Business Class For The Price Of EconomyAirlines | Insider Deals|Sponsored Read Comments - Join the Discussion

'They became more and more extreme': Shocking website revealed as 'gateway' for shooters

'Traumatic' wave of active-shooter hoaxes on campuses linked to right-wing extremist group

Inside the Trump strategy that should terrify you the most

Trump drops 'atomic bomb' on DOJ: analysis

An awful Trump secret is about to come crashing into the open

'Waste of time': Jen Psaki smacks down Karoline Leavitt's attack

Trump’s allies claim his popularity 'couldn't be higher' — but voters say otherwise

'C’mon man': Fox News analyst blasts Trump’s latest rant

'Everyone's the enemy now': DC insider details Trump’s myriad national security blunders

'Big boo-boo': GOP senators turn on Trump over fears of 'economic downturn'

Conservative lawmaker’s bombshell decision could radically reshape House GOP

Right-wing pundits rip 'the gratuitous viciousness' of Trump’s retaliation campaign

Trump may slap blue state's taxpayers with $1 billion charge over feud with governor

BRAND NEW STORIES

'Waste of time': Jen Psaki smacks down Karoline Leavitt's attack

'Just doesn't work': MAGA investor warns of dire consequences if Trump takes over Fed

'Man up!' Michael Steele rips Fed chair for not defending board member Trump is targeting

Convicted white supremacist band says they didn't mean for lyrics 'to be taken literally'

'Everyone's the enemy now': DC insider details Trump’s myriad national security blunders

'Dictator's playbook': Ex-GOP strategist says Trump may use military to disrupt elections

'Very disrespectful!' Trump delivers late-night screed in response to 'bone spurs' hit

'Blatant and deplorable': Trump admin employees say they're forced to watch 'propaganda'

'What happens when he's gone?' Trump’s health issues have associates jockeying for leadership

'It’s a real gut punch': Rural voters 'stunned' by Trump’s damage

'Let me just stop you there': Wallace cuts off guest who calls for 'nuance' on Trump move

Trump drops 'atomic bomb' on DOJ: analysis

Trump's reckoning may be right around the corner — here's why

Outrage as Minneapolis mass shooting exposes more Republican lies

'You think he's joking?' CA gov hits raw nerve with latest Trump warning

Trump is breaking the promise our nation made to military veterans

GOP Senator: 'It Will Take A Miracle' To Pass Trump's Big Ugly Bill

While Senate Republicans were meeting during a closed-door lunch at the U.S. Capitol, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk posted several tweets slamming President Donald Trump's so-called "Big, Beautiful Bill." This appeared to cause further fractures among the Senate Republican Conference.

That's according to a Tuesday article in NOTUS, which reported that Musk's tweets appeared to result in the rapid undoing of any progress achieved during the meeting, with GOP senators reportedly now "even further from consensus." The outlet reported that "the more likely a senator was to agree with Musk on the reconciliation bill, the more likely they were to have seen his online broadsides."

Musk's posts — in which he called the first major Republican legislative domestic policy push of Trump's second term a "disgusting abomination" — were primarily focused on the bill's ballooning of the federal deficit by trillions of dollars over 10 years. But other Senate Republicans have expressed worry about how the legislation's cuts to Medicaid will affect their constituents. A chorus of Republicans are now reportedly chiming in with proposed changes to the megabill, which would still need to be approved by the House of Representatives should it pass the Senate.

"It's called negotiating," Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) said. "Everyone wants their fingerprints on it."

Other more moderate Republicans, like Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AL), are coming out against other elements of the bill. Collins has said she would oppose the legislation's cuts to PEPFAR — which funds AIDS relief efforts in underdeveloped nations — while Murkowski has railed against Medicaid cuts. Pro-Trump Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has also repeatedly warned that any bill that cuts Medicaid would not get his support, citing the high number of his constituents who rely on the program.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) — a more moderate member of the Republican conference — has not openly said whether he would support or oppose the bill in its current form, and has stayed mostly quiet on Musk's outburst, telling NOTUS that the tech titan is "entitled to his opinion." However, he notably said that it would likely take "a miracle" for the Senate to get on the same page on the bill anytime soon.

Even though Republicans enjoy a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and even though the GOP is taking the "reconciliation" route to pass the bill which only requires 51 votes, Republicans can only afford three defections if they hope to send any legislation back to the House. And even staunch conservatives like Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Rand Paul (R-KY) have gone on the record opposing the bill over its impact on the deficit.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Shop our Store

Headlines

Editor's Blog

Corona Virus

World

        About The National Memo
    
The National Memo is a political newsletter and website that combines the spirit of investigative journalism with new technology and ideas. We cover campaigns, elections, the White House, Congress, and the world with a fresh outlook. Our own journalism — as well as our selections of the smartest stories available every day — reflects a clear and strong perspective, without the kind of propaganda, ultra-partisanship and overwrought ideology that burden so much of our political discourse.
TAGS

Created By

RebelMouse

About Masthead Terms of Service Privacy Statement Advertise Contact

Smart. Sharp. Funny. Fearless

Sign up for our Daily Newsletter and never miss a story.

How elites have been corrupted in the service of a garbage-bag president

Morning Joe blasts Trump’s 'full blown-out socialism'

'Too much Diet Coke': Trump brutally mocked after botching key detail on diplomatic trip

Trump is using an appalling new meme to trigger a terrifying catastrophe

The fight over the Trump-Epstein saga is far from over

'The American people are watching': Epstein victims put Trump on notice

'The White House is scrambling': Epstein scandal forces Trump to act like 'a typical politician'

'She seemed pretty ticked': Press sec’s spin falters over questions with 'no silver bullet'

GOPer slams 'disgusting' Trump admin for treatment of female Republicans on Epstein efforts

'Disturbing': Top Dem says new Trump-Epstein photo 'more incriminating' than birthday book

Trump drops 'atomic bomb' on DOJ: analysis

An awful Trump secret is about to come crashing into the open

'Waste of time': Jen Psaki smacks down Karoline Leavitt's attack

Trump’s allies claim his popularity 'couldn't be higher' — but voters say otherwise

'C’mon man': Fox News analyst blasts Trump’s latest rant

'Everyone's the enemy now': DC insider details Trump’s myriad national security blunders

'Big boo-boo': GOP senators turn on Trump over fears of 'economic downturn'

Conservative lawmaker’s bombshell decision could radically reshape House GOP

Right-wing pundits rip 'the gratuitous viciousness' of Trump’s retaliation campaign

Trump may slap blue state's taxpayers with $1 billion charge over feud with governor

Shop our Store

Headlines

Editor's Blog

Corona Virus

Trending

World

About The National Memo