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EspañolSUSAN COLLINS
:''For the artist, see Susan Alexis Collins.''
'Susan Margaret Collins' (born December 7 1952, in Caribou, Maine) is an American politician, the junior U.S. Senator from Maine and a Republican.
Collins is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of St. Lawrence University. She worked for Senator William Cohen from 1975 until 1987, when she became chair of the Maine commission on financial regulation. She served in this position until 1992, when she briefly served as New England regional director of the National Small Business Administration. She was the Republican candidate in the Maine gubernatorial election of 1994, but both she and the Democratic candidate, former Governor Joe Brennan, were defeated by the Independent candidate, Angus King.
In 1996, when Senator William Cohen announced his retirement, Collins announced her Senate candidacy. After a difficult three-way primary, she defeated Democrat Joe Brennan in the general election with 49% of the vote to Brennan's 44%. She was reelected in 2002 over State Senator Chellie Pingree (D), 58%-42%.
Senator Collins is often labeled as more bi-partisan than most senators , thus causing some Republicans to label her as a "Republican in Name Only," (RINO). Her voting record is moderate and has been consistently one of the most liberal Republicans in the senate. In the 1990s, Collins played an important role during the U.S. Senate's impeachment trial of Bill Clinton when she and fellow Maine Senator Olympia Snowe sponsored a motion that would have allowed the Senate to vote separately on the charges and the remedy. When the motion failed both Snowe and Collins subsequently voted to acquit, believing that while Clinton had broken the law by committing perjury, the charges did not amount to grounds for removal from office.
Collins voted with the majority in favor of the "Iraq War Resolution" authorizing President George W. Bush to go to war against Iraq, on October 10, 2002.[1]
On October 21, 2003, Collins was one of the three Republican Senators to oppose the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and voted with the Senate Democrats. The bill was passed 64-34 and sent to President George W. Bush for his signature and became law on November 5, 2003.
On May 23, 2005, Collins was one of fourteen moderate senators to forge a "compromise" on the Democrats' use of the judicial filibuster, thus allowing the Republican leadership's attempt to control debate without having to exercize the so-called "nuclear option". Under the agreement the Democrats would retain the power to filibuster a Bush judicial nominee only in an "extraordinary circumstance", and the three Bush appellate court nominees (Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen, and William Pryor) would receive a vote by the full Senate.
She voted against the ban on late-term abortions (so-called "partial-birth abortions"), the restrictions on travel to Cuba, harsher punishments for drug users, and opposed amending the U.S. Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriages. She has taken a more moderate line on taxation and trade, voting against some trade agreements, most recently CAFTA. In 2001 she was one of only four Republicans to vote to limit the reduction in the top tax rate and to increase the amount of tax relief for those at the bottom of the income scale. In 2003 she was the only Republican to vote in favor of spending a portion of the tax cut reserved for upper-income payers on the building of hospitals in rural areas. She has voted against drilling in ANWR and in favor of increasing the average mile-per-gallon requirement for vehicles. In September of 2005, Collins cosponsored a resolution with Senator Patrick Leahy, (D-VT), that disapproved a new rule put in place by the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency that delisted coal and some other energy sources from the Clean Air Act. The resolution failed by a vote of 47 to 51.
In October, 2006, President Bush signed into law major port security legislation coauthored by Senator Collins and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA). The new law includes major provisions to significantly strengthen security at our nation’s ports.
Senator Collins is a member of The Republican Main Street Partnership and supports stem cell research. She is also a member of The Republican Majority For Choice, Republicans For Choice, The Wish List, Republicans for Environmental Protection, and It's My Party Too.
In February, 2006, TheWhiteHouseProject.org[2] named Susan Collins one of its "8 in '08", a group of eight female politicians who could possibly run for or be elected president in 2008.
In May 2007, the non-profit, non-partisan group, Partnership for Public Service, awarded Senator Collins its annual "Leadership Award" for her bipartisan efforts to improve the business of government and foster cross-sector partnerships to address some of government’s toughest challenges. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icB8Ugk9oOA
Senator Collins is currently the longest-serving Senator to have never missed a roll call vote.
Since January, 2007, Senator Collins has served as the ranking Republican of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Collins served as chair of the committee from January, 2003, until she became ranking Republican. Joe Lieberman said in his "opening statement" as chair that the committee had no more productive period than Collins' tenure as chair.[1]
Collins also serves on the Armed Services Committee and the Special Committee on Aging. She is also a co-chair of the Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer’s Disease. Her tenure both as chair and ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has been noteworthy for her close working relationship with Joe Lieberman. Lieberman was previously the committee's ranking Democrat.
Main articles: Maine United States Senate election, 2008
Running for re-election in 2008 versus Rep. Tom Allen
Collins is running for re-election in 2008 and on May 8, 2007, Representative Tom Allen (District 1) filed papers to run against her. On the same day a poll was released by Critical Insights — an independent polling firm in Portland, Maine — which showed Collins was a strong early favorite. The poll of 600 likely voters, showed Collins leading Allen statewide 57% to 30%, with 65% of the important independent vote.
Former Democrat and now Independent Senator Joe Lieberman has stated publicly that he plans to campaign for Senator Collins' re-election. This, he said, was returning a favor when Collins' campaign against the Democratic candidate during his bid for re-election in 2006 after he lost in the Democratic primary and was forced to run as an Independent in the general election.
As of mid-August, a controversy has erupted involving Collins and left-leaning bloggers over her campaign's Director of Internet Strategy, Lance Dutson, who referred to firedoglake.com as a "foul-mouthed femblog." Other controversies include Collins' claim that a Democratic tracker (a person who tracks and videotapes candidates) had behaved inappropriately. The actual footage contradicts Collin's claims.
★ '2002 Race for U.S. Senate'
★
★ Susan Collins (R) (inc.) 58%
★
★ Chellie Pingree (D) 42%
★ '1996 Race for U.S. Senate'
★
★ Susan Collins (R) 49%
★
★ Joe Brennan (D) 44%
★ '1994 Race for Governor'
★
★ Angus King (I) 35%
★
★ Joe Brennan (D) 34%
★
★ Susan Collins (R) 23%
1. Opening Statement, “Ensuring Full Implementation of the 9/11 Commission’s Recommendations”
★ United States Senator Susan Collins 'official Senate site'
★
★ Federal Election Commission — Susan M Collins campaign finance reports and data
★ New York Times — Susan Collins News collected news and commentary
★ On the Issues — Susan Collins issue positions and quotes
★ OpenSecrets.org — Susan Collins campaign contributions
★ Project Vote Smart — Senator Susan Collins (WA) profile
★ SourceWatch Congresspedia — Susan Collins profile
★ Washington Post — Congress Votes Database: Susan Collins voting record
★ Susan Collins My Space
'Susan Margaret Collins' (born December 7 1952, in Caribou, Maine) is an American politician, the junior U.S. Senator from Maine and a Republican.
| Contents |
| Biography |
| Senate career |
| Committee Membership |
| 2008 Campaign |
| Electoral history |
| References |
| External links |
Biography
Collins is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of St. Lawrence University. She worked for Senator William Cohen from 1975 until 1987, when she became chair of the Maine commission on financial regulation. She served in this position until 1992, when she briefly served as New England regional director of the National Small Business Administration. She was the Republican candidate in the Maine gubernatorial election of 1994, but both she and the Democratic candidate, former Governor Joe Brennan, were defeated by the Independent candidate, Angus King.
In 1996, when Senator William Cohen announced his retirement, Collins announced her Senate candidacy. After a difficult three-way primary, she defeated Democrat Joe Brennan in the general election with 49% of the vote to Brennan's 44%. She was reelected in 2002 over State Senator Chellie Pingree (D), 58%-42%.
Senate career
Senator Collins is often labeled as more bi-partisan than most senators , thus causing some Republicans to label her as a "Republican in Name Only," (RINO). Her voting record is moderate and has been consistently one of the most liberal Republicans in the senate. In the 1990s, Collins played an important role during the U.S. Senate's impeachment trial of Bill Clinton when she and fellow Maine Senator Olympia Snowe sponsored a motion that would have allowed the Senate to vote separately on the charges and the remedy. When the motion failed both Snowe and Collins subsequently voted to acquit, believing that while Clinton had broken the law by committing perjury, the charges did not amount to grounds for removal from office.
Collins voted with the majority in favor of the "Iraq War Resolution" authorizing President George W. Bush to go to war against Iraq, on October 10, 2002.[1]
On October 21, 2003, Collins was one of the three Republican Senators to oppose the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and voted with the Senate Democrats. The bill was passed 64-34 and sent to President George W. Bush for his signature and became law on November 5, 2003.
With fellow Maine Senator Olympia Snowe
On May 23, 2005, Collins was one of fourteen moderate senators to forge a "compromise" on the Democrats' use of the judicial filibuster, thus allowing the Republican leadership's attempt to control debate without having to exercize the so-called "nuclear option". Under the agreement the Democrats would retain the power to filibuster a Bush judicial nominee only in an "extraordinary circumstance", and the three Bush appellate court nominees (Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen, and William Pryor) would receive a vote by the full Senate.
She voted against the ban on late-term abortions (so-called "partial-birth abortions"), the restrictions on travel to Cuba, harsher punishments for drug users, and opposed amending the U.S. Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriages. She has taken a more moderate line on taxation and trade, voting against some trade agreements, most recently CAFTA. In 2001 she was one of only four Republicans to vote to limit the reduction in the top tax rate and to increase the amount of tax relief for those at the bottom of the income scale. In 2003 she was the only Republican to vote in favor of spending a portion of the tax cut reserved for upper-income payers on the building of hospitals in rural areas. She has voted against drilling in ANWR and in favor of increasing the average mile-per-gallon requirement for vehicles. In September of 2005, Collins cosponsored a resolution with Senator Patrick Leahy, (D-VT), that disapproved a new rule put in place by the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency that delisted coal and some other energy sources from the Clean Air Act. The resolution failed by a vote of 47 to 51.
In October, 2006, President Bush signed into law major port security legislation coauthored by Senator Collins and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA). The new law includes major provisions to significantly strengthen security at our nation’s ports.
Senator Collins is a member of The Republican Main Street Partnership and supports stem cell research. She is also a member of The Republican Majority For Choice, Republicans For Choice, The Wish List, Republicans for Environmental Protection, and It's My Party Too.
In February, 2006, TheWhiteHouseProject.org[2] named Susan Collins one of its "8 in '08", a group of eight female politicians who could possibly run for or be elected president in 2008.
In May 2007, the non-profit, non-partisan group, Partnership for Public Service, awarded Senator Collins its annual "Leadership Award" for her bipartisan efforts to improve the business of government and foster cross-sector partnerships to address some of government’s toughest challenges. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icB8Ugk9oOA
Senator Collins is currently the longest-serving Senator to have never missed a roll call vote.
Committee Membership
Since January, 2007, Senator Collins has served as the ranking Republican of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Collins served as chair of the committee from January, 2003, until she became ranking Republican. Joe Lieberman said in his "opening statement" as chair that the committee had no more productive period than Collins' tenure as chair.[1]
Collins also serves on the Armed Services Committee and the Special Committee on Aging. She is also a co-chair of the Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer’s Disease. Her tenure both as chair and ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has been noteworthy for her close working relationship with Joe Lieberman. Lieberman was previously the committee's ranking Democrat.
2008 Campaign
Main articles: Maine United States Senate election, 2008
Running for re-election in 2008 versus Rep. Tom Allen
Collins is running for re-election in 2008 and on May 8, 2007, Representative Tom Allen (District 1) filed papers to run against her. On the same day a poll was released by Critical Insights — an independent polling firm in Portland, Maine — which showed Collins was a strong early favorite. The poll of 600 likely voters, showed Collins leading Allen statewide 57% to 30%, with 65% of the important independent vote.
Former Democrat and now Independent Senator Joe Lieberman has stated publicly that he plans to campaign for Senator Collins' re-election. This, he said, was returning a favor when Collins' campaign against the Democratic candidate during his bid for re-election in 2006 after he lost in the Democratic primary and was forced to run as an Independent in the general election.
As of mid-August, a controversy has erupted involving Collins and left-leaning bloggers over her campaign's Director of Internet Strategy, Lance Dutson, who referred to firedoglake.com as a "foul-mouthed femblog." Other controversies include Collins' claim that a Democratic tracker (a person who tracks and videotapes candidates) had behaved inappropriately. The actual footage contradicts Collin's claims.
Electoral history
★ '2002 Race for U.S. Senate'
★
★ Susan Collins (R) (inc.) 58%
★
★ Chellie Pingree (D) 42%
★ '1996 Race for U.S. Senate'
★
★ Susan Collins (R) 49%
★
★ Joe Brennan (D) 44%
★ '1994 Race for Governor'
★
★ Angus King (I) 35%
★
★ Joe Brennan (D) 34%
★
★ Susan Collins (R) 23%
References
1. Opening Statement, “Ensuring Full Implementation of the 9/11 Commission’s Recommendations”
External links
★ United States Senator Susan Collins 'official Senate site'
★
★ Federal Election Commission — Susan M Collins campaign finance reports and data
★ New York Times — Susan Collins News collected news and commentary
★ On the Issues — Susan Collins issue positions and quotes
★ OpenSecrets.org — Susan Collins campaign contributions
★ Project Vote Smart — Senator Susan Collins (WA) profile
★ SourceWatch Congresspedia — Susan Collins profile
★ Washington Post — Congress Votes Database: Susan Collins voting record
★ Susan Collins My Space
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