Collins Watch: Signal or Noise?

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Sen. Collins breaks with the GOP, voting in favor of the first amendment to the Senate health care bill.

Bruce Bourgoine said...: It is the din of noise until the final vote.

Senator Susan Collins may well vote for several amendments during the course of the debate on issues on which she is are routinely lauded as a moderate. Occasional supportive votes on all of these amended matters may create an impression of moderation but in the end, voting for final legislation that contains substantive health care reform with a robust public option is the vote that counts.

Collins may well earn selective moderate accolades now for supporting a few amendments but she could then vote down the final bill because of cost, government control, or public option opposition. We cannot afford to be cheated in the end with her excuse of "I worked so hard to improve the bill but the gosh darn Democrats just made it impossible in the end for me and my pal Joe Lieberman to support it in good conscience because of blah, blah, blah..."

She may also be voting for specific amendments in a bid for outsized influence that leads to her being able to water down the final bill substantially. Her actions should be suspect and her vote on a finalized good piece of legislation is the true clear signal of concern for Maine citizens that we need to hear.; 8:52 AM, December 05, 2009

Collins Watch