SUSAN COLLINS AND MITCH MCCONNELL STALLED HOUSE RELIEF BILL AND REJECTED UNIVERSAL PAID LEAVE, BUT RUSH TO PUT CORPORATE INTERESTS AHEAD OF MAINE FAMILIES AS CRISIS DEEPENS
Portland, MAINE — Last night, Senator Susan Collins and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rushed the Republican version of a coronavirus bill to the Senate floor. But instead of delivering real and meaningful direct assistance for working families, and resources for overburdened health care systems, their bill amounts to a $500 billion-dollar slush fund for corporate bailouts.
Not only does the bill proposed by Republican senators provide corporations like airlines, cruise ship companies, and the travel industry — including President Trump’s hotels and resort — with billions in government funds, it provides no requirements for accountability, and even also includes a provision to allow the Trump Administration to keep the names of these corporations secret from the American people.
“We are in a crisis. We need Senator Collins to do more to help Maine families, make sure healthcare workers are protected, and to get hospitals the resources they need,” said Willy Ritch, executive director of 16 Counties Coalition. “Susan Collins needs to be held accountable and reminded that now is not the time to put corporate profits before the needs of everyday people.” \
The bailouts proposed by Senator Collins and her Republican colleagues in the Senate come on the heels of hundreds of billions in new tax breaks already enjoyed by corporations, thanks McConnell and Collins’s support for the 2017 Republican tax bill. The bill let many of America’s largest corporations, including Eli Lilly, to pay no taxes at all.
During a similar debate over the 2009 stimulus bill in response to the financial crisis and the Great Recession, Susan Collins was instrumental in delaying the relief bill over hundreds of millions in funding for pandemic preparedness funding, which was ultimately removed before passage.
About the 16 Counties Coalition
The 16 Counties Coalition is a year-long grassroots advocacy campaign aimed at amplifying the voices of families and working Mainers and encouraging Senator Susan Collins to vote in favor of the people she was elected to represent and defend. The campaign will mobilize members through small- and large-scale events, through digital action, and paid television, radio, and digital ads.
