MAINE BEACON (Maine People's Alliance) • October 23, 2020
In the early days of the George W. Bush administration, Senator Collins was one of eight Republicans who helped successfully thwart Arctic Refuge drilling. But when President Trump was elected, he and the Senate GOP leadership set their sights on drilling the Arctic Refuge. The plan: circumvent a full, fair and open debate on the issue by jamming a drilling provision into a massive tax bill and pushing it through the congressional reconciliation process, where it would need only a simple majority to pass. Maine conservation leaders implored Senator Collins to not support the tax bill unless the Arctic Refuge leasing mandate was removed. Collins not only declined to help, but traded her Tax Act vote for something that never materialized: a pledge from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to hold votes on proposals to mitigate damage from health care rollbacks also contained in the bill.