i Collins: 'Dire crisis' spurred stimulus support
Collins: 'Dire crisis' spurred stimulus support
BY SUSAN M. COVER
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 02/19/2009

AUGUSTA -- Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Wednesday that "a truly dire crisis" with the national economy prompted her to play a leading role in the $787 billion federal stimulus package.

Collins, who spoke with the editorial board of the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel, said she will also work to keep an eye how the money is spent through her service on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

"I believe this is truly a dire crisis," she said. "When we lose 600,000 jobs in one month and when unemployment in Maine is at a 16-year record high at 7 percent, and when each day brings reports of another loss of jobs in Maine and across the country, I don't believe a responsible reaction is to just say no."

Collins, one of only three Republicans to support the stimulus package, said efforts on the Senate side to amend the bill were more bipartisan than they have been described to date.

She said six Republicans and 14 centrist Democrats worked to scale back the bill after it arrived from the House.

"We were able to weed out of this bill $100 billion of spending, some of which may be worthwhile, but was not stimulative," she said.

Ultimately, only three Senate Republicans voted for the package: Collins, Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Arlen Specter, R-Pa.

Collins said she applied three tests when looking at what was in the stimulus package: She wanted to know whether it created or saved jobs, put money in the pockets of people and help improve the economy.

Maine can expect to get just more than $1 billion in stimulus money. In addition to money for highway and bridge projects, school repairs, food stamps, energy conservation and Medicaid, the state will see an increase in funding for special education, she said.

Since 1974, the federal government has promised to pay 40 percent of the cost of special education. But right now, the figure is 18 percent.

Collins said the stimulus money will raise it to 35 percent. That means about $54 million for Maine.

"It's the granddaddy of unfunded mandates," she said.

Another key component of the package is funding to improve electrical grids. Collins said Aroostook County wind mills must now ship their power to Canada because the county is not connected to the state grid.

"This potentially will help us fill in the gaps," she said.

When it comes to oversight, Collins and Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., will hold a hearing March 5 to make sure accountability measures are in place for the stimulus money.

"This hearing will closely examine the safeguards that were put into place -- many of which were at the insistence of Senator Lieberman and me -- to ensure aggressive oversight, transparency, and accountability of economic stimulus dollars," she said in a statement.

Susan Cover -- 620-7015

scover@centralmaine.com

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