Susan Collins
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- For the artist, see Susan Alexis Collins.
| Susan Collins | |
| | |
| 1997–Present | |
| Political party: | Republican |
|---|---|
| Preceded by: | William Cohen |
| Succeeded by: | Incumbent (2009) |
| Born: | December 7, 1952 Caribou, Maine |
| Spouse: | none |
| Religion: | Roman Catholic |
Image:Collins3rd.jpeg Image:Collladna.jpg Susan Margaret Collins (born December 7 1952 in Caribou, Maine) is an American politician, the junior U.S. Senator from Maine and a Republican. She is currently chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (to be replaced on January 3, 2007 by Independent Democrat Joe Lieberman),when she will become the Ranking Member, the highest ranking Republican on the Committee. She is the first woman to become chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Collins is also a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Senator Collins is a member of the Catholic church.
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[edit] Biography
Collins is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of St. Lawrence University. She worked for Senator William Cohen from 1975 until 1987, when she became chair of the Maine commission on financial regulation. She served in this position until 1992, when she briefly served as New England regional director of the National Small Business Administration. She then moved to Massachusetts and served as its Deputy Treasurer in 1993, but then moved back to Maine. She was the Republican candidate in the Maine gubernatorial election of 1994, but both she and the Democratic candidate, former Governor Joe Brennan, were defeated by the Independent candidate, Angus King. When Senator Cohen announced his retirement, Collins announced her Senate candidacy, and after a difficult three-way primary she defeated Democrat Joe Brennan in the general election. She was reelected in 2002 over State Senator Chellie Pingree (D) 58% - 42%.
[edit] Senate career
In the U.S. Senate, Collins played an important role during the Senate's impeachment trial of Bill Clinton, when she and fellow Maine Senator Olympia Snowe sponsored a motion that would have allowed the Senate to vote separately on the charges and the remedy. When the motion failed, both Snowe and Collins subsequently voted to acquit, believing that while Clinton had broken the law by committing perjury, the charges did not amount to grounds for removal from office.
On May 23, 2005, Collins was one of fourteen moderate senators to forge a compromise on the Democrats' use of the judicial filibuster, thus blocking the Republican leadership's attempt to implement the so-called "nuclear option". Under the agreement, the Democrats would retain the power to filibuster a Bush judicial nominee only in an "extraordinary circumstance", and the three Bush appellate court nominees (Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen and William Pryor) would receive a vote by the full Senate.
Often labeled as a moderate or liberal Republican, Collins occasionally breaks with her party. She voted against the ban on partial-birth abortions, the restrictions on travel to Cuba, harsher punishments for drug users, and opposed amending the U.S. Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriages. On taxation and trade she has taken a more moderate line, voting against some trade agreements, most recently CAFTA. In 2001 she was one of only four Republicans to vote to limit the reduction in the top tax rate and to increase the amount of tax relief for those at the bottom of the income scale. In 2003 she was the only Republican to vote in favor of spending a portion of the tax cut reserved for upper-income payers on the building of hospitals in rural areas. She has voted against drilling in ANWR and in favor of increasing the average mile-per-gallon requirement for vehicles. In September of 2005, Collins cosponsored a resolution with Senator Patrick Leahy, (D-VT), that disapproved a new rule put in place by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency that delisted coal and some other energy sources from the Clean Air Act. The resolution failed by a vote of 47-51.
Senator Collins is a member of The Republican Main Street Partnership and supports stem cell research. She is also a member of The Republican Majority For Choice, Republicans For Choice, The Wish List, Republicans For Environmental Protection and Its My Party Too.
In February 2006, TheWhiteHouseProject.org[1] named Susan Collins one of its "8 in '08", a group of eight female politicians who could possibly run and/or be elected president in 2008.
Senator Collins was considered a possible choice to serve as the Secretary of Homeland Security if John Kerry had won the 2004 Presidential Election. [citation needed] Since 2002, she has been the Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, where she has developed a close working relationship with the committee's top Democrat, Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman. If Kerry had won, such an appointment would also have provided Kerry with a Republican in his cabinet. Because of her expertise on homeland security and the high regard people in both parties hold for her, Senator Collins remains a possible choice for Secretary of Homeland Security following the 2008 Presidential Election, regardless of whether a Democrat or Republican is elected as the President of the United States. However, it is extremely unlikely that she would ever resign from the U.S. Senate while a Democrat served as Governor of Maine, since the Governor of a state fills, by appointment, a vacancy in the U.S. Senate. Democrat John Baldacci has served as Governor since 2003, and with his re-electon in 2006, he will continue to hold that office until 2011.
[edit] Electoral history
- 2002 Race for U.S. Senate
- Susan Collins (R) (inc.) 58%
- Chellie Pingree (D) 42%
- 1996 Race for U.S. Senate
- Susan Collins (R) 49%
- Joe Brennan (D) 44%
- 1994 Race for Governor
- Angus King (I) 35%
- Joe Brennan (D) 34%
- Susan Collins (R) 23%
[edit] References
<references/>
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: William Cohen | United States Senator (Class 2) from Maine 1997 – present Served alongside: Olympia Snowe | Incumbent |
| Preceded by: Joe Lieberman | Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 2003-2007 | Succeeded by: Joe Lieberman |
| Maine's current delegation to the United States Congress |
|---|
| Senators: Olympia Snowe (R), Susan Collins (R)
Representative(s): Thomas H. Allen (D), Mike Michaud (D) All delegations: Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming — American Samoa • District of Columbia • Guam • Puerto Rico • U.S. Virgin Islands |
| Gang of 14 (in the United States Senate) |
|---|
| Republicans: McCain • Graham • Warner • Snowe • Collins • DeWine • Chafee Democrats: Lieberman • Byrd • Nelson • Landrieu • Inouye • Pryor • Salazar |
fr:Susan Collins ja:スーザン・コリンズ pl:Susan Collins sv:Susan Collins
Categories: Current events | Articles with unsourced statements | 1952 births | United States Senators | Irish-American politicians | Living people | Maine politicians | Omicron Delta Kappa brothers | Phi Beta Kappa members | Roman Catholic politicians | United States Senators from Maine | Gang of Fourteen
