Maine’s two senators were in alignment Sunday night on supporting a short-term funding measure that would end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
But the two different parties that U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King caucus with are reckoning with different pressures and criticism for their roles in ending the stalemate that began Oct. 1. The Senate’s 60-40 test vote Sunday was the first of several procedural moves required to ultimately pass the plan that would fund the government through January and would include three bipartisan spending bills crafted in the Senate Appropriations Committee that Collins chairs.
King and seven Democratic senators backed the plan in exchange for a mid-December vote on extending Affordable Care Act tax credits that expire at the end of this year. But the compromise’s lack of a guarantee that Republicans and President Donald Trump will support extending the health insurance subsidies for more than 24 million Americans and nearly 55,000 Mainers resulted in sharp disagreements within the Democratic Party.
Collins said Monday she is optimistic the funding deal she took credit for putting together will pass and end the shutdown, while King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, faced harsh blowback Monday from critics on the left who argued he and the seven Democratic senators caved in after the minority party had held out for weeks to try to extend the tax credits.
Collins declined in an interview with the Bangor Daily News to share how long of an ACA tax credit extension she would support by saying she did not want to “speculate” on work the Senate and House health and finance committees will undertake into December on that subject and income eligibility limits.
King’s office deferred to his Bangor Daily News op-ed published Monday in which the senator wrote the Democratic strategy to force Republicans to the table on tax credits “wasn’t working” and that continuing the shutdown will only continue to hurt Americans in need.
The compromise put Maine’s senators in the national spotlight while once again exposing them to the scrutiny they face as members who try to position themselves toward the center. The critics of King’s vote included Gov. Janet Mills and Sullivan oysterman Graham Platner, the top two Democratic contenders who are vying to face Collins in next year’s election.
Platner was among the left-wing figures also calling on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, to step down after Sunday night’s vote, though Schumer voted against the deal. Schumer had laid out last week a Democratic proposal to reopen the government and extend the tax credits for one year, but Collins and Republicans swiftly rejected it.
Collins did not mention the health insurance tax credits in a Sunday night floor speech that mostly lauded the Senate Appropriations Committee for its bipartisan work on the deal that House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, indicated could receive votes in his chamber as soon as Wednesday.
Collins touted the plan as including back pay for federal workers who have missed paychecks during the shutdown and full-year appropriations for federal assistance, such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits that Trump has sought to freeze during the shutdown. Trump said Sunday evening it appeared the shutdown was “close” to ending via the compromise that Collins also said would include more than $34 million in earmarks benefiting Maine fire stations, municipal facilities and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
Collins said her goal is to prevent “any more government shutdowns.” She also mentioned how the Senate’s work was slowed Monday afternoon by an amendment from U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, the lone Republican to vote against the compromise, that would defeat an effort to ban intoxicating hemp drinks sold in Maine and other states.
Collins blamed former President Joe Biden’s administration for lifting the pre-pandemic cap that had limited eligibility for the health insurance tax credits to those making no more than 400% of the federal poverty guidelines, currently $128,600 for a family of four. She acknowledged the time crunch, with premiums more than doubling on average if no extension happens.
“So I personally believe that there’s a limit to how many reforms we can do in a very short period of time, but we certainly should look at ways to improve the law,” Collins said.
Meanwhile, King wrote that Congress “went from no chance” on extending the tax credits Sunday morning “to some chance…after the vote Sunday night and put food in the mouths of a lot of hungry people.”
“Any good general changes tactics when the battle plan isn’t working, especially if the current plan puts the troops at risk,” King added.
