Political positions of Susan Collins
[32] Collins "who is fiscally conservative but holds socially moderate views, plays a unique role in the current Republican drama at a time when a strong Tea Party faction has pushed the GOP — and its leadership — to the right.
[40] On January 28, 2017, Collins joined five other Republicans to oppose President Donald Trump's temporary ban on immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries saying it was "overly broad and implementing it will be immediately problematic."
Proponents of the bill argued it would offer a lifeline to the publishing industry amid newsprint price increases, while critics accused it of setting "a dangerous precedent for future investigations into allegations of unfair trade practices.
Collins told reporters that she disagreed with "the easing of the sanctions because I think it sends the wrong message to Russia and to the oligarch and close ally of Mr. Putin, Oleg Deripaska, who will in my judgement continue to maintain considerable [ownership] under the Treasury's plan.
"[81] In April 2018, Collins stated her belief that the US needed "a more nuanced approach" in dealing with China but gave President Trump "credit for levying these tariffs against the Chinese, with whom we've talked for a decade about their unfair trade practices and their theft of intellectual property from American firms."
The proposed office would be responsible for coordinating across agencies and developing a long-term strategy across the entire government with the aim of protecting "against state-sponsored technology theft and risks to critical supply chains.
"[90] In August 2019, Collins was one of eight senators to sign a letter led by Marco Rubio and Pat Toomey to United States Secretary of Defense Mark Esper calling for an expansion of the F-35 program in response to the Trump administration ejecting Turkey from the group of F-35 partner nations.
[101] In August, Collins was one of nine senators and two Republicans to sign a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging the Trump administration to comply with a law requiring certification that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were meeting a humanitarian criteria or else being removed from American military assistance.
[102] In October 2018, Collins was one of seven senators to sign a letter to Secretary of State Pompeo expressing that they found it "difficult to reconcile known facts with at least two" of the Trump administration's certifications that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were attempting to protect Yemen civilians and were in compliance with US laws on arms sales, citing their lack of understanding for "a certification that the Saudi and Emirati governments are complying with applicable agreements and laws regulating defense articles when the [memo] explicitly states that, in certain instances, they have not done so.
On March 30, 2017, Collins would again join Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) to break party lines on a vote; this time against a bill allowing states to defund Planned Parenthood.
[127] In 2019, Collins joined a majority of Republicans, and three Democrats, to vote for a bill that required doctors to provide care and medical intervention for infants born alive after a failed abortion.
Collins also cited statistics from the Identity Theft Resource Center and Deloitte that demonstrated an increased numbers of cyberattacks across numerous industries in the United States and noting financial institutions that had named cybersecurity as one of the top three risks expected to rise in importance as it related to businesses over the course of the following two years.
[150] In October 2018 Collins cosponsored, together with Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin, a bipartisan bill that if passed would block "any persons from foreign adversaries from owning or having control over vendors administering U.S.
"[153] In April 2017, along with Democrats Kamala Harris and Dianne Feinstein and fellow Republican Marco Rubio, Collins cosponsored a resolution condemning hate crimes related to ethnicity, religion, and race.
Collins stated the bill being implemented would be "both fair policy and good business practice" and that the federal government "must compete with the private sector when it comes to attracting the most qualified, skilled, and dedicated employees.
[179][180] In March 2021, Collins voted in favor of a failed amendment to legislation that would have rescinded funds from public schools that allow trans youth to participate in the sporting teams of their gender identity, and this was seen as a departure from her past support for LGBT rights.
[198] In December 2017, along with Democrats Amy Klobuchar and Tammy Baldwin, Collins was one of three senators to sign a letter to Strongbridge Biopharma CEO Matthew Pauls that stated their commitment "to combatting sudden astronomical price increases as well as any anticompetitive conduct and attempts to game the regulatory process at the expense of Americans in need of life-saving therapies."
During his confirmation hearings it was disclosed that he had authored pseudonymous blog posts in which he disparaged gay rights, compared abortion to slavery, and linked to articles on right-wing conspiracy theory websites.
[216] Also in 2018, Collins was one of three Republican Senators, along with Jeff Flake (Arizona) and Murkowski, who supported an FBI investigation into sexual assault allegations made against Trump's second Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.
In 2004, she joined other "Senate moderates -- John McCain of Arizona, Olympia J. Snowe...of Maine, and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island" in opposing how the Bush administration wanted to implement the tax cuts.
She said, "I'm confident that the votes are not there to pass a minimum wage increase up to $10.10; therefore it seems to me to make sense for senators on both sides of the aisle to get together and see if we can come up with a package that would help low-income families with [sic] causing the kind of job loss that the Congressional Budget Office has warned against.
[306] In September 2017, along with Republican Rob Portman and Democrats Bob Casey, Jr. and Tammy Baldwin, Collins cosponsored a bipartisan bill that would extend the Perkins Loan Program by two years when it was then set to expire by the end of the month.
[319] Collins and fellow Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana proposed legislation permitting states to either keep the ACA or move to a replacement program funded in part by the federal government.
[329] Collins made a deal with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, trading her opposition to repealing the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate provision for legislation that would financially stabilize the remaining health insurance program.
Collins stated the increase in the potential of a devastating cyber-attack with each day and cited the importance of taking "commonsense steps now to eliminate vulnerabilities and protect our energy infrastructure from future disruption."
[359] In March 2019 Collins joined all Senate Republicans, three Democrats, and Angus King in voting against the Green New Deal resolution, a proposal that strove for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in the US.
Collins said the bill would "take interim steps to assist these adversely impacted communities" while stating the requirement of the federal government to move forward with a lasting solution for nuclear waste under lawful means.
[369] In 2018, Collins was a cosponsor of the NICS Denial Notification Act,[370] legislation developed in the aftermath of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that would require federal authorities to inform states within a day of a prohibited person attempting to buy a firearm failing the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
Collins furthered that the difference between the new calls for gun control and previous instances were that three mass shootings had occurred "so close together" and that it was her hope that the "Democrats truly want a solution and some progress" on the matter as opposed to playing political games.
[390] In June 2019, Collins and Democrat Doug Jones cosponsored the American Broadband Buildout Act of 2019, a bill that requested $5 billion for a matching funds program admninistered by the Federal Communications Commission to "give priority to qualifying projects."
