Collins 'getting ready' for 2020 run, splits shutdown blame
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Collins 'getting ready' for 2020 run, splits shutdown blame
PATRICK WHITTLE, Associated Press 20 hours ago 
FILE- In this Oct. 3, 2018, file photo Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chairs the Senate Special Committee on Aging on Capitol Hill in Washington. Collins is "getting ready to run" for re-election, she said during a television appearance Sunday, Jan. 6, 2019, but she reiterated that she won't make a decision until the end of the year. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Sen. Susan Collins is "getting ready to run" for re-election, she said during a television appearance Sunday, but she reiterated that she won't make a decision until the end of the year.
Collins, a moderate Republican from Maine who was first elected to the Senate in 1996, also said on NBC's "Meet The Press" that she thinks Republicans and Democrats are both at fault for the government shutdown and that a compromise could be brokered soon.
Democrats and liberal groups have targeted Collins for her role in the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh last year. A crowd-funded effort to boost her opponent in 2020 has received more than $3.7 million.
Collins has yet to make a firm commitment about whether she's running for re-election. She told "Meet The Press" host Chuck Todd she would prefer to use this year to legislate rather than campaign.
"I'm getting ready to run, but frankly I just think it's too early to make that kind of decision," Collins said. "But I am getting prepared, and I'll make a final decision toward the end of this year."
Collins was re-elected with ease in 2014, but Democratic organizers have vowed to hold her accountable for Kavanaugh's confirmation if she seeks another term. She announced her support for Kavanaugh on the Senate floor in October in a move that essentially assured the nominee's ascent to the Supreme Court.
Kavanaugh's nomination by Republican President Donald Trump was followed by testimony from Christine Blasey Ford that Kavanaugh assaulted her decades earlier. Collins said on the Senate floor that she was compelled by Ford's testimony, but that Kavanaugh deserved the presumption of innocence.
Fundraising by liberals to attempt to defeat Collins in 2020 intensified almost immediately.
The partial shutdown of the federal government hit its 16th day Sunday. Collins told Todd the shutdown could be ended if Trump and leaders in Congress agree to separate the issue of a wall at the southern border from the rest of the functions of the federal government.
"We could reopen much of the government where there's no dispute over issues involving certain departments like ag, transportation, housing, interior," Collins said. "Let's get those reopened while the negotiations continue."
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'Collins, a moderate Republican from Maine who was first elected to the Senate in 1996, also said on NBC's "Meet The Press" that she thinks Republicans and Democrats are both at fault for the government shutdown and that a compromise could be brokered soon.'
No you doddering old bitch, it's on tRump and the gop, no one else.
'Democrats and liberal groups have targeted Collins for her role in the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh last year. A crowd-funded effort to boost her opponent in 2020 has received more than $3.7 million.'
Run bitch run but we won't forget your support of a drunken rapist.
Stay classy.
I don't want you on my seeds.
You promised
I expect nothing from you dear
Nope I will do as I please. I'd appreciate it if you honored your word. I don't expect you to though
Wow. Presumption of innocence. In America, no less. That is outrageous. /s.
Yeah, that'd be neat, but then there would be no discussion of the wall at all. The government shutdown is the only reason they'll even address the issue, even if it's only to say they'll never give in.
Democrats are determined to frustrate Trump on this issue for purely political reasons. We know it's 100% political, because these same Democrats advocated, voted for and funded over 600 miles of fencing at the border. So the notion that they are offended at the idea of a physical border is the most obvious lie in the history of obvious lies. They just don't want Trump to be able to fulfill the core promise of his campaign. No wins for "the enemy."
Which is why when Schumer sponsored the 2013 Immigration Modernization Act
Senate passed it 68-32
Boehner said it was 1300 pages too long to read and refused to bring it to the House floor, because Obama wanted it.
That doesn't excuse what's happening now, but it helps explain the insanity of Washington
Oh I agree. This crap has been going on for too long and it isn't just confined to the immigration issue or one party. They really don't want the other party to be able to crow about doing something good for the country.
What good is Rump doing for the country?