" . . . avoid a disruption in many vital programs on which our citizens rely."
Not that I expect you to be surprised by it, but when you find yourself lamenting why there is so little fight in Beltway Republicans, you have to remember how many of them have become creatures of the Beltway precisely because that is how they survive politically. To Collins, the grumbling in the halls of power sound much like the sentiment she hears back home in Maine, and it will benefit her not at all to really fight for anything. Oppose ObamaCare with words, sure, but actually do something that might change things?
Oh dear. That would be so messy. The East Coast Bluebloods just abhor a confrontation, Mimsy.
The Hill:
"I disagree with the strategy of linking Obamacare with the continuing functioning of government-a strategy that cannot possibly work," Collins said in a statement released Sunday afternoon.
The centrist swing-vote GOP senator called on President Obama and "congressional leaders to sit down immediately and negotiate at least a stopgap funding measure to avoid a disruption in many vital programs on which our citizens rely."
Collins released the statement minutes before GOP House members stood on the steps in front of an empty Capitol building to highlight the decision by Senate Democratic leaders not to call back senators to consider the House-passed funding bill.
Collins added that the congressional leaders and Obama should try to work out an elusive grand bargain to move past the seemingly status quo fiscal crises that have marked the past few years of split government.
Ah yes, the elusive "grand bargain." That's the one where, in theory, the Republicans give on taxes and the Democrats give on spending, and we balance the budget. You know how those turn out. The tax increase is implemented immediately. The "spending cuts" are nominal if that at first, with most set for the "out years," a convenient punt that future Congresses are under no obligation to pay off. And of course, any number of "emergencies" come up in the meantime that justify new spending that blows the "cuts" made in the "grand bargain" out of the water.
But Blueblood Republicans like Susan Collins get to tell their constituents they "got something done," and that's usually good for another six years in office.
http://www.caintv.com/of-course-susan-collins-is-jus
