ICYMI: Maine Dems and ECU Call Out Collins For Putting Wall Street, Insurance Company Donors & Herself Before Mainers

Augusta, Maine - In case you missed it, today Maine Democrats hosted a press call, joined by End Citizens United, to highlight how Susan Collins is more concerned with fighting for her own bottom line and doing the bidding of her Wall Street and insurance company donors than she is with helping Mainers.

Watch:

Here are some key moments:

End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller:

• In desperate moments like this, people should be able to count on their elected leaders to fight for their interests and ease their burdens. But unfortunately, that's not an option for Mainers because Senator Susan Collins has sold out to her special interest donors.

• She was the deciding vote to move Donald Trump's Big Billionaire Tax Bill forward. [...] Just before she cast her vote, a super PAC that supports Collins received a $2 million contribution from a private equity CEO by the name of Stephen Schwarzman. That same CEO, by the way, poured a ton of money into her last campaign too.

• She has pocketed almost $250,000 from health insurance corporate PACs. She has taken $49,500 from UnitedHealthcare, which is raising rates on Mainers by more than 8% And she has taken $22,500 from Anthem, which is raising rates by more than 23%

• And she did the same thing for Big Pharma. Collins voted against letting Medicare negotiate lower drug prices.

• While Mainers either pay more or lose healthcare entirely, Susan Collins, her insurance donors, and her Big Pharma donors all come out ahead.

Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Devon Murphy-Anderson:

• Susan Collins has shown us she is more concerned with fighting for her own bottom line, and the insurance companies and the Wall Street billionaires that fund her campaign than she is with helping everyday Mainers.

• We've learned that Collins has spent $700,000 on fancy travel, hotels, and dining in the DC area - and nearly $320,000 of that came in the last four years alone [...] Plain and simple, Collins has become a creature of DC.

State Sen. Donna Bailey, Chair of the Health Coverage, Insurance, and Financial Services Committee:

• I just want to emphasize that extending the enhanced premium tax credit is the single most effective step Congress can take to lower health care costs for Mainers and for all Americans.

• I was extremely disappointed to see Senator Collins vote against extending these enhanced premium tax credits.

• We know health insurance premiums are slated to increase for 2026 on average 20%, up to almost 23%, some 30%. And in our committee we receive from the Bureau of Insurance a list of the reasons for those increases, and one of the reasons stated by every insurance company is the expiration of these enhanced premium tax credits. So there is a direct link between these and rising health care costs.

Collins has been exposed for putting her campaign donors and own bottom line ahead of Mainers:

• Collins cast a decisive vote to advance the toxic GOP tax bill that extends tax breaks for private equity firms right after a private equity CEO funneled $2 million to a PAC backing her.

• Collins has voted against extending expiring ACA enhanced premium tax credits that 50,000 Mainers rely on after she raked in major campaign donations from insurance companies who are planning to raise health care "premiums on Mainers by as much as 23% in 2026."

• Susan Collins has increased her campaign spending on lavish hotels and fine dining in her latest term - spending in four years nearly half of what she's spent in her entire 30 year Senate career.

###