The pro-abortion Republican senator who sabotaged a bill to defund the Planned Parenthood abortion business will remain in the Senate. Maine Senator Susan Collins had contemplated a run for governor, which would vacate her Senate seat, but she has decided to remain a thorn in the side of pro-life advocates in Congress.
Collins was one of a couple of Republican Senators who voted against the reconciliation bills over the summer that would have defunded the Planned Parenthood abortion company. Leading pro-life groups had called on members of the Senate to pass the reconciliation bills that the House had already approved. One bill repealed Obamacare in its entirety while a couple other reconciliation bills would have repealed portions of it.
Because Senator Collins refused to support the bills Republicans were not able to obtain the 50 votes they needed to get past a filibuster from pro-abortion Democrats and they died as a result. Thus taxpayers continue to be forced to fund the nation’s biggest abortion business that kills over 330,000 unborn children in abortions on an annual basis.
Here is more on Senator Collins decision:
Since April, Ms. Collins, 64, has toyed publicly with the idea of running for governor, which was the first office she ran for, in 1994. Though she lost that race, she said she was still drawn to the ability of a governor to have a direct and immediate effect on people’s lives by creating jobs and spurring economic development. She also said she felt an affinity for Augusta, the capital, where a long line of ancestors served in the State Legislature, starting with her great-great grandfather and including her father.
Had she run and won the race for governor in 2018, she would have become the first woman in Maine to hold the office.
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Although she has been one of Maine’s most popular politicians for some time, there was no guarantee that she would win her party’s nomination in the June primary. Gov. Paul R. LePage, a fellow Republican who is barred by term limits from seeking a third term, has been stirring the political pot against her. Ms. Collins, a moderate who has glided to victory in her recent elections, this time faced the likely prospect of bruising and expensive attacks from the right.
Now in her fourth term in Washington, she ranks 15th among the 100 senators in seniority and appears to be at the height of her power. As one of the few moderates in a closely divided Senate, she is often a swing vote, and, as she demonstrated during the health care debate, she can often influence the outcome of important legislation. Since Mr. Trump became president, she has voted less often with her party than any other Republican senator.
