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List of Republicans who voted for the Stimulus House of Representatives No Republicans voted for the bill Senate Collins (R-ME) Snowe (R-ME) Specter (R-PA) *

Senate passes bill to save teacher, police jobs – WASHINGTON (AP) — Legislation to provide billions to save the jobs of teachers and other public workers is on track to pass the Senate, helped along by the votes of a couple of GOP moderates. Democrats cracked a GOP filibuster on Wednesday, and the House was being called back from its summer break for an expected final vote next week to help cash-strapped states and school districts. The $26 billion measure would help states ease their severe budget problems and, advocates said, stop the layoffs of perhaps 300,000 teachers, firefighters, police...

The more it looks like the Senate will confirm Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court, the more gun owners should worry. Yesterday, Sen. Olympia J. Snowe of Maine became the fourth Republican to stand behind President Obama's nominee on the phony basis that Ms. Kagan supports gun rights. Mrs. Snowe explained in a press release that, "as a longtime, ardent supporter of Second Amendment rights, it was critical that [Solicitor] General Kagan stated during her testimony that the precedents set by the Supreme Court in the Heller and McDonald cases - which upheld a personal right to possess a firearm...

WASHINGTON—The Senate approved a wide-ranging overhaul of the nation's financial regulations Thursday, handing President Barack Obama his second major domestic-policy victory of the year. The legislation passed, 60-39, largely along party lines. Republicans Sens. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both of Maine, joined Democrats in supporting the bill. Sen. Russ Feingold (D., Wisc.) was the only Democrat to vote against the measure.

There has been much talk recently about whether Republicans and Democrats in Washington can produce a bipartisan clean-energy and jobs bill. The answer is: We already have. We are leading a bipartisan effort to put a lid on carbon pollution and in so doing unleash a massive investment in clean-energy technology. If we can tackle this issue in a predictable, transparent and free-market way, we can create millions of high-paying jobs while limiting the worst effects of climate change and reducing both our dependence on foreign oil and the risk of another oil spill. We have authored a bill that...

Bill would give DHS emergency cyber powers June 3, 2010 We're learning more about the cybersecurity package forming in the Senate. Wired.com reports Sen. Joe Lieberman, (I-Conn.) wants to give the federal government the power to take over civilian networks' security, if there's an "imminent cyber threat." It's part of a draft bill, co-sponsored by Senators Lieberman and Susan Collins, that provides DHS with the authority to ensure that critical infrastructure stays up and running in the face of a looming hack attack. The Senate version of the fiscal 2011 Defense authorization bill scheduled to be released later this week...

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Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) will back a repeal of the military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy. The Associated Press said Collins will support the legislation crafted in a deal announced last night that would abolish the military's ban on openly gay and lesbian servicemembers. Collins's announcement gives key Republican backing to the measure, spearheaded by Democrats. Other top Republicans have expressed skittishness toward the repeal at this point. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, lamented an effort to move the issue too quickly, while Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) said it is "premature" to...

Senate Passes Massive Financial Regulation Bill In its broad sweep, the massive bill would touch Wall Street CEOs and first-time homebuyers, high-flying traders and small town lenders. WASHINGTON -- Prodded by national anger at Wall Street, the Senate on Thursday passed the most far-reaching restraints on big banks since the Great Depression. In its broad sweep, the massive bill would touch Wall Street CEOs and first-time homebuyers, high-flying traders and small town lenders. The 59-39 vote represents an important achievement for President Barack Obama, and comes just two months after his health care overhaul became law. The bill must now...

WASHINGTON BUREAU -- Members of the Senate kept viewers in suspense Wednesday as they voted on limiting debate on a substitute version of S. 3217, the Restoring American Financial Stability Act bill. The initial cloture motion vote -- on a motion to invoke cloture on S.A. 3739, a "manager's amendment" to S. 3217 -- failed by a 57-42 vote, according to Senate Democrats. S.A.3739 was developed by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, and by other senators, such as Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the highest ranking Republican on the Banking Committee. S.A....

Maine Republican Susan Collins said Thursday she does not foresee a Republican filibuster of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, but she’s withholding judgment on her own vote until after the summer hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. And in a statement that may further bolster the prospects for Kagan’s confirmation, Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), a potential swing vote, said he was comfortable with Kagan’s explanation of Havard’s ban on military recruiters at the Law School.

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan received critical cover from moderate Republicans on Thursday on two issues likely to dominate her upcoming confirmation hearings: gays in the military and judicial experience. Kagan has been strongly criticized by GOP leaders for her efforts to block military recruiters from Harvard University during her time as the school's law school dean because of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The policy, opposed by President Obama, prevents gays and lesbians from serving openly in the armed forces. Top Republicans have also highlighted the fact that Kagan has never served as a federal judge, something...

All 41 Republican senators have signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid saying they are opposed to the financial regulation bill put forward by Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd .... The letter calls for further negotiations, but it does not go as far as to say all 41 senators would support a filibuster of the legislation. *snip* The GOP's contention that the reforms amount to a "bailout bill" seem to follow the advice of a GOP pollster and focused on a provision in the legislation to create a $50 billion bank liquidation fund. The charge was sharply rebuked by...

Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, say they will issue subpoenas next week to the Pentagon and the Justice Department unless both departments end what they call “foot-dragging” in cooperating with the Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee’s probe of the Fort Hood shootings. At a Capitol Hill news conference today, both senators said they’d been patient with the administration in the five months since the probe began, but don’t buy the administration’s concern that providing access to records and individuals to the committee might compromise the prosecution of alleged shooter, Army Major Nidal Hasan. Lieberman said...

Both Maine Senators declined the White House's invitation to attend President Obama's event in their home state today, according to White House spokesman Bill Burton. Burton said the Maine Republicans decided not to attend Obama's healthcare speech in Portland, Maine. A spokeswoman for Snowe said the senator "had a full day of events already planned today long before we learned of the President's trip to Maine last Friday." Meanwhile, Collins is overseas visiting U.S. Central Command in Qatar, and her office says it's not clear she was invited in the first place. Of course, both Snowe and Collins opposed the...

WASHINGTON — The effort to end a Senate standoff over unemployment benefits and health coverage for the jobless escalated on Tuesday morning as Senator Susan Collins, the moderate Republican from Maine, became the latest lawmaker, and the first Republican, to try to override the objection of Senator Jim Bunning, Republican of Kentucky.

When Obamacare sailed into rough waters near Christmas, most Republicans jumped ship. But two GOP senators, Maine’s Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, clung to the battered vessel right until Ben Nelson cut the rope. This week, the Maine ladies redeemed themselves with their handling of the Republican riposte to President Obama’s foundering anti-terror policy. It was a welcome surprise. As northeast moderates, Snowe and Collins could have easily continued to glide through Senate life, secure in their belief that the GOP is lucky to have them on its side. Yet, refreshingly, in both tone and substance, they snapped this week...

"This administration cannot see a foreign terrorist even when he stands right in front of them." Yes my friends, that came from the mouth of MS Maine, our Northeastern RHINO, Susan Collins. She continued, “President Obama recently used the phrase that ‘we are at war’ with terrorists. But unfortunately his rhetoric does not match the actions of his administration. The Obama administration appears to have a blind spot when it comes to the War on Terrorism. And, because of that blindness, this administration cannot see a foreign terrorist even when he stands right in front of them, fresh from an...

In the Republicans weekly address.Conservatives often give Sen. Susan Collins grief for her willingness to compromise with Democrats (but note that she joined all 39 other GOP Senators and voted AGAINST the Dem health bill and the increase in debt). Here, she comes out swinging hard on the sheer idiocy of the Obama Administration's handling of the Christmas Bomber. Let's give her a vote of thanks for getting this issue right! [VIDEO AT SITE] Valuable intelligence which might prevent the next attack has been lost. The next attack may be a direct result of the Obama Administration's decision to treat...

Centrist Democratic senators have circumvented party leadership to approach Maine GOP Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins about reviving healthcare talks. Democrats such as Sens. Blanche Lincoln (Ark.), Bill Nelson (Fla.) and Max Baucus (Mont.) have approached Snowe within the past week to discuss her potential support for various healthcare proposals. “I know there have been efforts to contact her and find out what her concerns are,” said Sen. Mark Begich, a centrist Democrat from Alaska. Snowe said Baucus, the chairman of the Senate Finance panel, approached her in the past week to get her general thinking on reviving healthcare...