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CALL/EMAIL PLEASE http://collins.senate.gov/public/continue.cfm?FuseAction=ContactSenatorCollins.Email http://snowe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactSenatorSnowe.Email its not the final bill quite yet

more as it becomes available...

No More Nice Guy: Obama Strikes Back On Stimulus No More Nice Guy: Obama Strikes Back On Stimulus President Obama is turning the screws. Two weeks out from his historic inauguration and promises of a new, less partisan Washington, but with his stimulus plan taking a very public beating at the hands of minority Republicans on Capitol Hill, the president has been forced to transform. The Great Diffuser of inclusion and charm first shifted to the Great Salesman of Stimulus. Over the past 24 hours, he has been forced to become the much more stern Man With the Mandate. Obama...

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Ten Republican senators met in Sen. Mel Martinez's office Tuesday morning to discuss a broader stimulus measure than their leadership is proposing — but a narrower one than Democrats are considering. CNN was the only news organization outside the meeting. Afterwards, Martinez told CNN the details are still being debated and finalized, but they are looking at a ballpark figure of $500 billion, including the cost of tax cuts, infrastructure and military spending, and provisions to address the housing crisis. Martinez and Sen. Lindsey Graham said they plan to present their ideas to fellow Republicans at their...

No rush to repeal 'don't ask, don't tell' BY BRYAN BENDER WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is telling the Pentagon and gay-rights advocates that it will have to study the implications for national security and enlist more support in Congress before trying to overturn the so-called "don't ask, don't tell" law and allow gays to serve openly in the military, according to people involved in the discussions. They said Obama, who pledged during the campaign to overturn the law, does not want to ask lawmakers to do so until the military has completed a comprehensive assessment of the impact that...

The Democrat-led Senate Finance Committee is going through the pretense of a markup on their version of the $1.1 trillion sham stimulus bill passed by the House on Wednesday evening. Props to every single House Republican who -- to the last man and woman -- stood against socialism in voting against the mother of all spending bills. Now the bill’s fate rests in the hands of the RINO-infested Senate, where hopes of Republican unity in defense of the country from this socialist onslaught is a lot less likely. The usual suspects include Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, the RINO...

America recently reaffirmed its proud history as we inaugurated our 44th president. A huge crowd withstood bitter cold to be part of this landmark ceremony. I was struck by how well the musical performers reflected the diversity that is America's strength. President Obama's inaugural address was at once an uplifting tribute to the American spirit and a sobering reminder of the challenges confronting our nation. These are challenges that we must meet together. No challenge is more urgent than the current economic crisis. I am honored that my Senate colleagues have chosen me to serve on the Appropriations Committee, which...

Mainers -- even staunch Democrats -- probably should celebrate the re-election of Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss. Not because Chambliss is a wonderful legislator or has ideas that will solve the nation's problems. Neither is true. I think Chambliss, now starting his second term, is a mediocre senator, at best. But Chambliss' re-election in a runoff in Georgia kept Democrats from gaining a filibuster-proof 60 seats in the Senate and, in the process, made Maine's senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, two of the most powerful people in Washington. The two Mainers -- with moderate to liberal leanings -- will hold...

Jan 3 (Reuters) - With a close Minnesota race still undecided, Democrats will hold no more than 59 seats in the new 100-member U.S. Senate that convenes on Jan. 6. That means Democrats will need the help of at least a few Republicans to hit the 60 votes required to clear procedural roadblocks known as filibusters.

Congress has so few moderate Republicans that at least in the Senate they could squeeze into a Volkswagen Beetle. Their ranks have dwindled in recent elections. Those who remain in politics have been marginalized by their own party, which has inexorably veered to the right over the last generation. But this beleaguered minority has an opportunity to wield outsized influence on what President-elect Barack Obama can accomplish in Congress.

This week Senator Saxby Chambliss won a runoff vote in Georgia. It’s possible you missed this... Above all, you have to love the fact that as things stand, the nexus of power will lie in the Republican moderate caucus, consisting entirely of the two senators from Maine, the Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. “And Senator Specter,” corrected Snowe.... But I like thinking of next year’s senate as a kind of mythic quest movie in which a Democratic hero in need of a stimulus package or a Supreme Court confirmation is told: “Go forth and seeketh the Women of Maine,”...

Senator Susan Collins, the lefty Republican from Maine, has crossed the aisle to vote for the Democrats' bills and policies more than some Democrats have over the last 10 years. She is pro-abortion, pro-Cuba, pro-fetal stem cell research, anti-gun, ant-free trade... well, the list of things she is for and against seems to follow the Democrat's path straight down the line richly earning her the title of RINO (Republican In Name Only). Because she is such a reliable Democrat friend one might think that the Democrat Party would be on her side in her 2008 re-election bid, or if not...

I am rethinking something I said earlier in anger, particularly at the sliming of Sarah Palin. While it is imperative to ward off the more damaging aspects of the radical policies that Senator Obama may wish to impose on us, like redistributing wealth, the “Fairness Doctrine” and senseless gun laws, the housing and mortgage crisis has so damaged the nation’s economy that all Americans have to come together to solve it. It is plunging our nation into a serious recession, and Americans of every political outlook and income situation may suffer. Of course, we Americans have short memories, both institutional...

Via Tapper, a palate-cleansing Kinsleyan gaffe from Susan Collins confirming that everyone in America, from the checkout counter to the Senate, is on the same page vis-a-vis Silky. The exchange starts at 2:00. Meanwhile, Radar picks through the latest tidbits from the Enquirer (print edition only) and floats a familiar theory about who their super-secret source might be. Exit quotation: “Of course I love you. Don’t worry, we’ll get through this.”

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- Will he or won't he? Vice President Dick Cheney is one of the nation's most prominent Republicans, but there are doubts about whether he will attend the GOP convention. ... Separately, at least five Republican senators have decided to skip the GOP convention. Sens. Gordon Smith of Oregon, Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine all face tough re-election campaigns. Two others, Wayne Allard of Colorado and Larry Craig of Idaho, are retiring.

There are RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) and then there are RINOs who call themselves Republicans for Environmental Protection. Founded in 1995, REP seeks to save the planet through decidedly un-Republican, big-government socialism. It also annually hands out its "Greenest Republican in Congress" award. This year's co-winner is Rep. Christopher Shays, RINO-4th District, who by sheer coincidence is on REP's "Honorary Board of Distinguished Republicans," along with co-winner Sen. Susan Collins, RINO-Maine. On REP's 0-100 scorecard, Rep. Shays scored 103 for promoting policies that are responsible for today's record energy prices and much more. Out of the other side of...

The Senate rejected calls from both parties' presidential candidates to take an election-year break from pork-barrel spending as a Democratic-run Congress passed budget plans that would torpedo hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts won by President Bush. John McCain, the GOP nominee-to-be, couldn't attract even a majority of Senate Republicans to vote with him Thursday night behind the earmark moratorium touted by party conservatives as a way to restore the GOP's credibility with voters. It failed on a 71-29 vote. Only three Democrats joined with Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama in voting for it. The underlying House...

Senator Collins has worked hard for the people of Maine, but now far-left extremists have decided to attack her. MoveOn.org has made Maine its #1 target MoveOn.org has sent more money to her opponent than all of the presidential candidates combined, over $365,000 already. MoveOn and their allies have run 9 attack ads against her, including one featuring children dressed in military fatigues, forced to crawl under barbed wire.

It is often said that the best way to find out how a candidate would act in office if elected, is to see who he/she surrounds himself with. Money is another factor, what people and industries are backing the candidate. These answers should be an indicator of what to expect. Who is behind the man should gauge what kind of man he is. The great Richard Viguerie tells the story of how he and other conservatives had a “seat at the table” of the presidential campaigns of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan for. His thinking was if Conservatives aren’t at...

Internal documents obtained by The Examiner shine new light on MoveOn.org’s “General Betray Us” ad and raise fresh questions about the far-left advocacy group’s misleading statements on the issue and its relationship with Google, a major donor to its political action committee.The documents show how MoveOn.org used dubious claims of trademark infringement and threats of litigation to silence critics of its recent controversial full-page ad in The New York Times attacking Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. general in Iraq, which appeared the day he was testifying before Congress on the war effort. Among those critics was Sen. Susan...