Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Home Team

Sen. Susan Collins didn't just oppose the Vivek Murthy nomination this week. She also voted against confirming an Obama judicial nominee, a deputy secretary and an assistant secretary.

And that's in addition to a bunch of nominees she voted against earlier in the month, including a Consumer Product Safety Commission commissioner and the General Counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

All were confirmed.

It could be that all of the above nominees were unqualified or ideologically extreme--based on standards that Collins has applied consistently throughout her tenure in the Senate.

It could be, in other words, that Maine's senior senator, who boasted of her non-ideological approach throughout the her recent campaign, voted the merits without regard to party, her views of the President or her desire to thwart his administration.

But when you consider Collins's past willingness to back even the most extreme and least competent of President Bush's nominees...let's just say it seems unlikely.

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Mum on Murthy?

So far no statement from Sen. Susan Collins on her vote against the nomination of Vivek Murthy for Surgeon General.

Prior to announcing her decision, Collins spoke to Politico about Murthy, a Harvard and Yale-trained physician who had been endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and the American Cancer Society. But nothing since.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Collins Roll-Back Makes Budget Bill

Insurance Journal:

Congress is poised to roll back safety rules aimed at ensuring truck drivers get enough rest, ignoring the pleas of consumer activists and U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.

The provision, added to budget legislation to fund the U.S. government through the fiscal year, would temporarily suspend rules that took effect last year while a study is conducted about the number of trucks driven on congested roads. Under the change, truckers would be able to work as many as 82 hours a week.

Streetsblog has a good roundup here.

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Quote of the Day

Joan Claybrook:

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is playing Santa Claus for the trucking industry this Christmas, but the American driving public will be paying the bill with lives forever lost and horrific injuries.