susan collins

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is keeping her focus on the important issues: an amendment that would increase congressional control of “czars.”
Her amendment, which she first tried to attach to an appropriations bill without success, would also require their offices to submit periodic reports about their activities to congressional oversight committees. If they failed to comply, [...]

That other Maine Republican, Sen. Susan Collins, released a statement this morning commending the decision of her Maine colleague to cross the aisle yesterday in support of the Senate Finance Committee’s health reform bill.
Due, in large measure, to the efforts of Senator Olympia Snowe, who has worked tirelessly, the legislation passed by the Senate Finance [...]

Here’s a quick wrap-up of today’s health care news.
Notwithstanding Rep. Joe Wilson’s (R-S.C.) infamous outburst, President Obama’s big speech Wednesday before both houses of Congress appears to have been a success — at least for now. According to several recent polls, support for health care reform is enjoying a bit of a bounce, ranging from [...]

After all the threats, tirades and political posturing surrounding the importance of winning a bipartisan health reform bill, it appears that the legislation being drafted by leaders of the Senate Finance Committee, headed by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), is on its way to attracting no Republicans after all.
Or so says Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a [...]

As funding for the $1 billion cash for clunkers program has reportedly dried up less than one week after its launch, Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) want answers from the White House about what vehicles are being sold and scrapped under the program. In a letter to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the [...]

With the news that the popularity of cash for clunkers has already consumed the program’s $1 billion allotment comes the inevitable rehashing of the debate over what cars should be eligible for trade-ins if the program is extended.
Earlier in the year, Detroit’s powerful defenders on Capitol Hill pushed through legislation that effectively allowed consumers to [...]

Via Roll Call, a bipartisan group of senators on Friday urged Democratic leaders to slow the pace of the health reform debate to ensure that the final product actually reins in long-term health care spending.
“While we are committed to providing relief for American families as quickly as possible,” the lawmakers wrote, “we believe taking additional [...]

Via Climate Progress, E&E News reports that Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, is planning to introduce a climate bill Sept. 8, with a Republican co-sponsor:
Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) plans to unveil a major global warming bill immediately after Congress returns from the August [...]

Just as the House Energy and Commerce Committee was passing a not-very-green cash-for-clunkers amendment to the Waxman-Markey bill, three senators introduced a rival proposal with much stronger environmental standards.
Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) co-sponsored a measure today that would modestly increase the “clunker” requirement of the program and significantly [...]

Too big to fail? Maybe. Too big to regulate? Not according to some lawmakers.
Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced legislation today authorizing federal regulators to oversee the credit default swaps market — which has ballooned into a $57 trillion industry.