Politics
Our political journalists are based in the Maine State House and have deep source networks across the partisan spectrum in communities all over the state. Their coverage aims to cut through major debates and probe how officials make decisions. Read more Politics coverage here.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins proposed changing President Donald Trump’s spending megabill to double a relief fund for rural hospitals by raising taxes on the very richest Americans.
The senator up for reelection next year voted with her fellow Republicans late Saturday to advance the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” But Collins told reporters that she was leaning against the final version unless it is changed during a series of votes scheduled to last all day Monday.
The Senate is moving at warp speed to meet Trump’s preferred July 4 deadline to pass the sweeping measure that would extend the tax cuts passed in 2017 during the president’s first term, cut spending on Medicaid and food stamps through stricter eligibility requirements and sharply increase funding for immigration enforcement.
Rural health care has been the focus of debate around the package in Maine, with two recent studies finding that the Medicaid cuts in the bill would put the Calais, Presque Isle, Caribou and Ellsworth hospitals in danger of closing. Collins has called for a $100 billion relief fund to offset those changes, while Republican senators have only put $25 billion in their version.
Her Monday amendment doubles that to $50 billion, paying for it in part by instituting a new 39.6 percent income tax rate on individuals making $25 million per year or couples making $50 million. There were only 1,600 earners who made $20 million or more in 2023, according to Social Security Administration data.
It is unclear whether Collins will be able to win a majority vote in the Senate on Monday, though Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, told reporters he would back her amendment, The Hill reported. Republicans also look confident that they will be able to pass the package.
“It’s time to vote,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, said.
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a centrist who often aligns with Collins, voted with Republicans over the weekend after winning concessions aimed at her state. That means the bill could pass it without Collins’ help, just as Trump’s budget framework did in April.
The Maine Democratic Party jumped on Collins after her weekend vote, saying in a Facebook post it will “lead voters to reject her” in her 2026 race for a historic fifth term representing her state in the Senate. She is the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a key vote on all of Trump’s top priorities in the chamber.
In a floor speech late Sunday, U.S. Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, decried the bill’s effects on health care and food stamp programs, saying it was “downright immoral” to continue tax cuts for wealthy Americans in that context.
“Let’s take our time and write a decent bill,” he said. “Let’s kill this bill.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
