CQ TODAY: Susan Collins: A Centrist Seeking The Middle On Sept. 11 Overhaul
Her tendency will be tested as never before this fall, when Collins will be a central figure in the debate on the biggest overhaul of the nation's intelligence agencies since the CIA was created in 1947. Although she is the shortest-tenured full committee head in the Senate at the moment, her committee was the choice of the Senate leaders of both parties to produce an intelligence reorganization bill by Oct. 1 in response to this summer's recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission. She held several hearings during the congressional summer recess, and she continued that work Wednesday at a hearing with FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III and acting CIA Director John E. McLaughlin.
Sen. Collins'' Biographical Information Realizing that reorganizing the entrenched world of intelligence will be a tall task, Collins has moved quickly to align with the panel's top Democrat, Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut. And she has made it clear that her committee's bill will be the one that goes to the Senate floor, despite efforts outside her committee to introduce various intelligence-related bills.
Although her moderate reputation makes her unusual in an increasingly partisan Senate, her centrism has given her security at home in Maine, where political moderation is cherished and where Democrats are highly competitive in elections. Two years ago Collins easily won a second term over a well-regarded Democrat, former state Sen. Chellie Pingree, by focusing on issues such as health care, education and consumer protection that have traditionally benefited Democrats.
As one of the most influential GOP women in the 108th Congress, Collins increasingly finds herself showcased by her party's national leaders as they try to expand the appeal of the party to moderate voters. This has been relatively easy to do, as long before its intelligence overhaul assignment the committee had jurisdiction over the Homeland Security Department, the product two years ago of the other major post-Sept. 11 governmental reorganization.
Collins has dedicated Governmental Affairs' oversight function to homeland security and intelligence matters for the foreseeable future. And she is willing to take on the Pentagon as well. Two days after winning re-election, she called the Defense Department comptroller to discuss ways to overhaul the Pentagon's financial systems and reduce misuse of government credit cards by department personnel.
Collins chaired the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in the 106th Congress and the GOP-run portion of the 107th and made a name as a consumer advocate. In the 106th, she won passage of a bill cracking down on deceptive practices of small sweepstakes companies. In 2000, she obtained fake identification cards to draw notice to Web sites that offer bogus credentials. She also pressed for tougher rules against unauthorized charges imposed on callers by long-distance telephone companies.
Strict attention to the nuts and bolts of governing could be expected of Collins, a former Senate aide and state regulator. Collins also has displayed shrewd political skills, winning concessions from conservatives when her support was critical to move a bill through the narrowly divided Congress.
Collins gave a good example of her approach during the latter stages two falls ago — when the Democrats, who then controlled the Senate, were fighting the Bush administration over its proposal to limit civil service protections at the new Homeland Security Department. She kept her vote closely guarded until she gained concessions from the White House on two major issues. She obtained a promise from Tom Ridge to set up a grievance process for workers denied union protections on national security grounds. And she won assurances that the Coast Guard's responsibilities for preventing terrorism would not diminish resources for fisheries enforcement, boating safety and other functions vital to her coastal state.
By conducting her negotiations discreetly and not publicly confronting the administration, Collins demonstrated an independent streak while never raising serious questions about her party loyalty.
On many other issues, Collins has used her standing as a GOP moderate to become a force to be reckoned with. She was a central figure this year, for example, in the ultimately unsuccessful effort to write a budget that would have paved the way for additional tax cuts only so long as they were accompanied by "pay-as-you-go" requirements.
Politics is in Collins' blood: Both her parents served terms as mayor of the small northern Maine town of Caribou. Her father, grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather served as Maine legislators. However, after a dozen years as a senior aide to Sen. William S. Cohen of Maine, her first venture as a political candidate was disappointing. She won the 1994 Republican nomination for governor but ran far behind victorious independent Angus King.
When Cohen retired two years later, though, Collins was a clearly improved campaigner: she was elected his successor by 5 percentage points in a year in which Democrats won both of Maine's House districts and the presidential contest. She beat 2002 opponent Pingree by 17 points.
By Martin Kady II September 8, 2004
