A certain U.S. Senator from Maine appears to be worried about losing her re-election campaign.
Even Donald Trump started a war of choice with Iran that he didn’t bother to consult with Democrats, Senator Susan Collins believes the vote on giving $200 billion to the war effort should be bipartisan.
The Trump administration will soon request Iranian war funding, and some Republicans don’t want to use the party-line budget reconciliation process to make it happen. “That would not be my preference. I understand the need to get this through, but it seems to me that it would be best to go through the appropriations process,” Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, told Semafor.
Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., agreed, but predicted Democrats won’t go along: “It’s probably going to have to be a party-line reconciliation move, unfortunately.” Republicans are still processing the $200 billion figure the Pentagon presented to the White House, and Collins wonders whether the package will include the intelligence community, agricultural aid and Pell Grant funding. “The administration will have to make its case. It’s clear that additional spending will be necessary,” said Senate Majority Leader John Barrasso, R-Wyo.
What this means is that Republicans see Trump’s war as a loser with voters in the midterm elections, and they don’t want the war itself to be funded. They want to get the Democrats involved in this and spread the blame.
The bipartisanship that Collins is now trying to pay for a war that the vast majority of the country and Democrats oppose was hardly found when Democrats tried to prevent health insurance premiums from rising for more than 20 million Americans.
Here are the votes Senator Collins cast:
