Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said she was waiting to see “where the bill is going to come out” after the conference committee to make a decision on her vote.
Partial transcript as follows:
DICKERSON: Right. Let me go on to taxes. You voted for the Senate tax cut bill. But you seem to be having qualms, questions about this conference report. Where are you on things now?
COLLINS: I always wait until the final version of the bill is brought before us, before I make a final decision on whether or not to support it. There are major differences between the House and Senate bills. And I don’t know where the bill is going to come out. I also obviously care very much about amendments that I was successful in getting in the bill that particularly help middle income families. And I’m also concerned about agreements that I have.
DICKERSON: Let me ask you about two of those agreements. One is on Medicare. You’ve got an agreement from Leader McConnell and Paul Ryan that there would not be these automatic Medicare cuts afterwards. Paul Ryan seemed to suggest maybe he wasn’t a party to that agreement. What’s the- Where do things stand on that agreement?
COLLINS: I have written correspondence that memorializes the agreement that the 4 percentcut in Medicare that could go into effect will not go into effect. I would point out that that law has been waived 16 times. It has never been implemented. But I don’t want seniors to have the anxiety of wondering whether the tax bill somehow is going to trigger a cut in Medicare. I’m absolutely confident. I have it in writing, a statement by both Mitch McConnell and Speaker Ryan.
DICKERSON: The waiving of the so-called PAYGO Rules. Let me ask you about seniors and seniors in Maine. The other thing you got a commitment on, as I understand it, is that there would be legislation that would come up before the end of the year dealing with these cost-sharing payments. There’s a piece of legislation sponsored by Alexander and Murray. What’s happening with that? Because in the House, Republicans are being told, “Nah, that’s not going to be a part of anything before the end of the year,” which means, without those cost-sharing payments, premiums are going up for Maine seniors.
COLLINS: I’ve had a lot of conversations not only with my colleagues in the Senate, but with my colleagues on the House side, and with the White House. I’ve talked to the president three times about this issue. And once again, I have no reason to believe that that commitment will not be kept. After all, who wants to see health insurance premiums become more unaffordable than they already are for individuals who are buying insurance in the individual market? And our two bills, this one that I have with Bill Nelson, and the Alexander Murray bill, will exert downward pressure on premiums and make it more affordable.
DICKERSON: There is one critique of that, though, that your legislation helped the condition before this tax bill, which has the removal of that individual mandate. And that, basically, these fixes won’t be enough for those people who will see higher premium increases.
SUSAN COLLINS: We have brand-new study that just came out last week by Avalere, a respected consulting firm, that says it will more than offset the repeal of the individual mandate. And keep in mind that the individual mandate fines fall disproportionately on low and middle-income families. Eighty percent of those fines are paid by families who make less than $50,000 a year.
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