Senator Susan Collins, Senator Angus King and Congressman Jared Golden sent the following position statements on the current debate in Washington, D.C., over the national budget and various amendments.

Senator Collins Speaks on the Senate Floor in Support of her Amendment to the Reconciliation Bill 

Click HERE to watch and HERE to download video of her remarks.

Collins delivered the following remarks June 30 on the Senate floor in support of her amendment to the Senate Reconciliation Bill. Senator by increasing the top marginal tax rate to 39.6 percent for individuals with income above $25 million and married couples with income above $50 million.

Senator Collins: 

“Mr. President, my amendment would increase funding for the Rural Health Care Provider Fund to $50 billion and expand the list of eligible providers to include not only rural hospitals, but also community health centers, nursing homes, ambulance services, skilled-nursing facilities, and others. 

“Rural providers – especially rural hospitals and nursing homes – are under great financial strain right now, with many having recently closed and others at risk of closing. Mr. President, when these facilities shut their doors, the people they serve are often left without access to health care.

“This amendment would help keep them open and caring for those who live in these rural communities. 

“The additional funding is fully offset through a modest increase in the top marginal tax rate – equal to the pre-2017 rate – for individuals with income above $25 million and married couples with income above $50 million. 

“I urge support for this amendment to provide the additional funding for rural and Medicaid providers who desperately need it.”

King on Senate Floor: This Tax Bill is “Irresponsible, Regressive, and Downright Cruel”

To watch or download the speech click here

King spoke on the Senate Floor June 29. In a June 30 news release, his office wrote:

"According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the legislation would add $3.3 trillion dollars to the federal deficit over the next ten years, while also cutting $1.1 trillion from Medicaid over the same time, resulting in 11.8 million Americans losing healthcare. Maine DHHS estimates that, if passed as is, 31,000 Mainers would be disenrolled from MaineCare in the first year and estimates suggest that four rural Maine hospitals would close."

King said in his remarks:

“Mr. President. This bill is a farce. Imagine a bunch of guys sitting around a table, saying, I've got a great idea. Let's give $32,000 worth of a tax breaks to a millionaire and we’ll pay for it by taking health insurance away from lower- income and middle-income people. And to top it off we cut food stamps, SNAP, and food aid to people? It's a joke. I would say it's a joke, but it's not the least bit funny. I've been in this business of public policy now for 20 years, eight as governor, 12 years in the United States Senate. I have never seen a bill this bad. I have never seen a bill that is this irresponsible, regressive, and downright cruel.

“The basic premise of the bill as I said is to cut benefits for the American people, particularly in the areas of health care and food, in exchange for tax cuts for the very wealthy. Now, I know my colleagues are going to come to the floor, because I've had this discussion before, they're going to say, no, this is a middle-class tax cut. This is going to cut taxes for people in the middle-class. Well, here's a little suggestion of how to get out of this mess, if you cap the tax cuts at people making $400,000 a year, a pretty healthy income, the cost of this bill would drop by 60%, and you wouldn't have any need to cut Medicare — I mean Medicaid – and by the way, there are Medicare cuts also built into this, and SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program]. $400,000. In other words, we're for the middle-class tax cuts, that's okay, but just stop it at $400,000 and don't give the tax breaks to the people.

“A millionaire under this bill gets a $32,000 tax cut. A person making $5 million or $10 million gets a couple hundred-thousand-dollar tax cut. I don't think they need it. They sure as hell don't need it as much as people need health insurance. So, just to put a fine point on it, this bill is literally— and remember my $400,000 suggestion— we're taking care of the middle class, but with 60% of the cost above $400,000 in income, this bill is literally taking food out of the mouths of kids to give a millionaire a $32,000 tax break. That's the facts. They're ugly. And like I said, if we were talking about this at a lunch table, people would say, that's a joke, that's ridiculous. Nobody would suggest that. But here we are. 

“But several of my colleagues have pointed out there's no rush on this bill. We don't have to do this bill by July 4 or July 10. There's no rush. These tax cuts don't expire until the end of the year. Let's take our time and write a decent bill. Let's kill this bill. It would only take four or five senators on the other side. We can kill this thing, start over and write a decent bill on a bipartisan basis. I think we'd find agreement on middle-class tax cuts. But I think we could also do some things with expenditures that wouldn't be so bloody harmful. Medicaid. Let me start with hospitals. In Maine, I've talked to the hospitals. I've talked to the hospital association. I've talked to small hospitals, large hospitals. They're mostly running on a 1%, 2%, or 3% margin. The analysis is this could cost us two to five of our rural hospitals. And when a rural hospital goes out, several things happen. One thing is the economy of the town goes with it. In most of these small towns, the hospital is the major employer.

“So you're talking about the economics of those jobs in a small town that will make a huge difference in that local economy. The second thing that happens is, a loss of services for everybody in town, not just the people on Medicaid. That hospital closes, everybody in town is going to have to drive another 30, 40, 50, 100 miles to get care. And they're going to have to not only — there may be closures. There will certainly be cutting of services. We already have a serious problem in Maine of obstetric services. We have a county with no obstetric services. And that's only going to get worse under this bill. The hospitals are pleading with us to not do this. And again, do we really need to do this to give a millionaire a $32,000 tax break? It doesn't make any sense. 

“Now, I've talked about hospitals. But let's talk about people. The analysis is 60,000 people in Maine would lose their insurance coverage: 40,000 under Medicaid and about 20,000 under the Affordable Care Act. And I — we've had a lot of personal stories tonight. I want to tell a story about myself. When I worked here in the 70's, I had insurance. It was employer-supported insurance. We paid part of the premium. I had insurance as a senior staff member in this — junior staff member in this body 50 years ago. Because I had that insurance that covered a free checkup, I went in and had my first physical in eight years. And I wouldn't have had that physical if the insurance hadn't have covered it. I wouldn't have been able to spring for it. I had that physical and the doctors found a little mole on my back.

“And they took it out. And I didn't think much of it. And I went in a week later and the doctor said you better sit down, Angus. That was malignant melanoma. You're going to have to have serious surgery. And a friend of mine who is a doctor said Angus, here's my best advice. Let them be as radical as they want in that surgery. And I had the surgery and here I am. If I hadn't had insurance, I wouldn't be here. And it's always haunted me that some young man in America that same year had malignant melanoma, he didn't have insurance, he didn't get that checkup, and he died. That's wrong. It's immoral. The idea of cutting health insurance from people is not just ‘oh, they just won't have coverage for their doctors' visits.’ No. People die when they don't have health insurance. There's statistical analysis to bear that out.

“So, this isn't any joke. And by the way, people say well, we're talking about fraud in Medicaid. Listen, at almost a trillion-dollar cut in Medicaid, 15 million people being cut off, 60,000, 40,000 in the state of Maine, that isn't fraud. That's cutting people who need the care. And I don't understand the obsession and I never have, and I stood right there and watched John McCain cast that vote to Saven the — to save the Affordable Care Act along with my colleague, Susan Collins. I don't understand the obsession with taking health insurance away from people. I don't get it. Trying to take away the Affordable Care Act in 2017 or 2018 and now this. What's driving this? What's the cruelty to do this, to take health insurance away from people knowing that it's going to cost them — it's hard to calculate the cost up to and including losing their lives.

“Okay, let's talk about SNAP. Let's talk about SNAP. The average benefit for SNAP is $6 a day. You feed yourself on $6 a day? The average cost of a meal in the U.S. Is about $100 a day. So we're already below cost, if you will. But here's what it means in my state. 20% of the children in my state are food insecure. And we're talking about cutting SNAP and taking dollars away from those kids. And I was interested in that. And I thought oh, that's pretty bad. I'm worried. Maine is 20%. 20% of our kids are food insecure. 

“So, I did a little research. In Arkansas it's 24% of the kids who are food insecure. In Iowa, 17%. South Carolina, 14%. Michigan, 19%. Missouri, another 19%. That's one out of five kids are food insecure. And we're going to cut that food in order to give a millionaire a $32,000 tax cut. Mr. President, that's not only bad policy, it's downright immoral. Okay, what's the other problem with this bill? There are so many. You know, so many problems, so little time. It's irresponsible. It adds about $4 trillion to the deficit. And by the way, this current policy thing doesn't pass a straight face test. A seventh grader knows it's nonsense. You've got to borrow the money to pay -- if this bill doesn't pass, then there isn't a $4 trillion hit on the budget. If it passes, there is. And the thing that really gives a lie to this nonsense is also in this bill is a $5 trillion increase in the debt ceiling. If it's not really debt, then we don't need to increase the debt ceiling. It's a sham. Voodoo budgeting. 

“So, I don't want to hear any more from my colleagues about deficits. I don't want to hear any more crocodile tears about deficits. We're mortgaging our future. I hear all this drama about deficits from people who are voting for this bill to add $4 trillion to the deficit unnecessarily. I'm — there's the saying of a famous new Englander, your actions speak so loud, I can't hear your words. Your actions speak so loud, I can't hear your words. Your actions are, you're adding to the deficit unnecessarily. So don't talk to me about deficits.

“Now, the first rule if you're in a hole is stop digging. And we're in a hole, Mr. President. We're in a hole. So, you stop digging by not passing this bill or not passing it in the extreme form that it is to give the tax benefits, 60% of the tax benefits to people making over $400,000 a year. The reason — what's driven the deficit, if you go back and look over the last 20 years, there are three things. One, were the unpaid for Bush Tax Cuts, we had major tax cuts and then a war we put on a credit card. The unpaid for Trump Tax Cuts in 2017 and Covid. Now, Covid was an emergency. And the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009 and 2010, those were emergencies. That's where you run deficits. But you don't run deficits when times are good. And that's exactly what we're doing here. If you're in a hole, stop digging. And by the way, the Committee for Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan group has said — I haven't heard this mentioned — this bill will actually accelerate the insolvency of the social security trust fund and the Medicare trust fund. 

“There's a nice thing for you. It will make those funds go insolvent sooner than would otherwise be the case. Gutting the IRS. By the way, I have another suggestion for my colleagues. You want to find $600 billion a year, enforce the tax laws against cheaters. That's the estimate. $600 billion a year is left on the table because cheaters, mostly high income, are not paying the taxes they owe. The poor stiff that gets a 1040, he has to pay it. Everybody knows what he's making. But these people with the fancy lawyers and accountants — and I'm not talking about tax avoidance here. I'm talking about stone cold tax evasion, $600 billion a year.  

“That would be nice instead of cutting Medicare and Medicaid and food stamps. Another piece of this bill that hasn't gotten much attention is ICE. The current budget of ICE is $9 billion a year. Under this they're increasing it $75 billion over four years. That's an additional $18 billion a year. They're tripling the budget of ICE. They're tripling the budget. We're dangerously close, Mr. President, to creating a federal police force which we've never had in this country, and we shouldn't have. By the way, I have never in my life seen a law enforcement officer with a mask on. I don't get where that came from. A law enforcement officer wearing a mask. Where I come from, people that wear masks are not the good guys. And I don't understand that, but to triple this budget, you wonder where that's going to take this country.

“So let me go back to the beginning. All this damage to give a tax break to guys making a million bucks. The Chairman of the Finance Committee wasn't here when I said this. Mr. Chairman, if we limit the tax cuts to people making $400,000 and less, it will reduce the cost of this bill by 60%. It will ameliorate the need for any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP. It would also minimize the hit on the debt and the deficit. There's no rush to pass this bill. Let's kill it, give it a merciful death over the next 24 hours, and then start over writing a responsible bill to deal with the expiring tax cuts for the middle class and deal with issues within the federal government that should be addressed. But this bill is not the answer. It is a sham.

“And it is a shame. And it's embarrassing to even be debating this bill. It should never come before us in this form. I hope that enough of my colleagues will see that this is an unnecessary damage to the citizens of this country and the citizens of their state, every state citizens are going to suffer. And this is something that we nor this body can and should prevent. Mr. President, I yield the floor.”

Dear Mainer: The Senate GOP is making the Big Bad Bill even worse

In a June 30 letter to Maine residents, Second District Congressional Delegate Jared Golden said:

With the rainy days behind us and having already experienced one full-blown heatwave, it’s safe to say summer has finally arrived in Maine. If you’re like me, you’re looking forward to time outdoors with the family and making the most of what this fleeting season has to offer.

But while Independence Day is mere days away, I am back in DC this week to take what is likely to be my final vote on the GOP’s reconciliation bill — the budget package that’s been pushed through Congress on party lines.

As I wrote last month when the House took up the bill, this plan is a rehash of the same harmful agenda we saw the last time the GOP had a governing trifecta in Washington: huge tax breaks for the rich and corporations paid for by cutting health care for the working poor and record-breaking deficit spending.

This bill is deeply flawed, in part because it was created through a deeply flawed process. The GOP abandoned regular order, negotiating with themselves and the White House without even pretending to reach across the aisle. The end result is a bloated, complex piece of legislation with so many moving pieces that it’s hard to draw attention to any one of them.

But these two charts from independent analyses of the Senate plan tell the story pretty succinctly. The first speaks to how tax giveaways for the wealthiest households are offset by cuts to programs that provide health care and food assistance to people who need it:

The second shows how the Senate proposal results in poorer Americans taking home even less in after-tax income than the House version:

I’m writing to you about this bill again because it’s become clear that it is the only major piece of legislation that the House GOP plans to pass this year. And unfortunately, the Senate is poised only to make the bill worse. For example:

• More Hits to Our Health Care:

  • The Senate adds another $130 billion in Medicaid cuts on top of what the House GOP already passed, for a total of $930 billion in cuts. Millions of Americans are expected to lose their health coverage.

  • They also target states that expanded health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, such as by blocking state spending to support Medicaid providers and reducing states’ ability to raise revenue for rural hospitals. The end result saps funding from rural hospitals that are already facing tremendous budget pressuresand may have to close their doors, making health care worse for everyone in these communities whether they use Medicaid for health care or not. That could include rural hospitals in Ellsworth and Presque Isle. 

• An Even Larger National Debt: The Senate proposal will likely add up to $3.9 trillion to the debt through Fiscal Year 2034, according to the nonpartisan group Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. That’s up to $1 trillion more in borrowing costs than under the House’s already record-breaking debt impact.

• Additional tax giveaways for the wealthy: The House version already gave roughly $90,000 a year to households in the form of tax breaks earning more than $1 million annually while giving just $90 to low-income households, many of which will actually lose money as a result of health care and food assistance cuts. To add insult to injury, the Senate piled on even more tax giveaways for the very well-off, such as a new capital gains carveout for big tech companies and venture capitalists.

The Senate touts itself as the “cooling saucer” of Congress, where legislation from the House is made more moderate or responsible. If only that were true in this case.

When I voted against the earlier version of this bill, I said it was one of the easiest votes I’ve ever taken because Mainers want more health care, not less; They want corporations and the wealthy to pay their fair share, not be given new tax breaks; And they want Congress to get our fiscal house in order, not burden future generations with unsustainable debt.

The Senate has only made the bill worse. So I’ll be voting no again: For our health care, for tax fairness and for fiscal stability.