ICYMI: Senator Collins Discusses Syria, Trade, and Other Issues on CNN’s “State of the Union”

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Bangor, ME - U.S. Senator Susan Collins, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” this morning with host Jake Tapper to discuss Syria, trade, and other issues.

A transcript of the interview follows:

“State of the Union”

April 8, 2018

TAPPER: Joining us now is Republican Senator Susan Collins. She is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Senator Collins, always good to see you. The White House Homeland Security Adviser this morning says nothing is off the table, including a potential military response to this chemical weapons attack in Syria – an apparent [chemical] weapons attack. Would you support a military response to this?

COLLINS: This attack with chemical weapons, which are banned by international conventions, is absolutely horrific, and as your video indicates, was aimed at civilians in Syria. Last time this happened, the president did a targeted attack to take out some of the facilities that may be an option that we should consider now. But it is further reason why it is so important that the president ramp up the pressure and the sanctions on the Russian government because without the support of Russia, I do not believe that Assad would still be in office.

TAPPER: President Trump of course announced about a week and a half ago that he plans to withdraw U.S. troops fighting ISIS out of Syria “very soon.” Obviously, only the perpetrators of this horrific attack are responsible for violence. But a Syrian human rights activist contacted me and said, “This is what happened when Trump says pull out and let another take care of it.” Do you think it is possible that Trump’s announcement to withdraw might have emboldened some bad actors here?

COLLINS: No, I don't, but I think the president is going to have to reconsider his plan for an early withdrawal in light of what has happened.

TAPPER: Turning to other news out of the White House this week, you just heard White House chief economist Larry Kudlow depending these new potential tariffs against China. Stock market of course dropped almost 600 points on Friday amid fears of a possible trade war. Farmers are worried that retaliatory tariffs on soybeans will end up costing them billions of dollars. I know you have farmers in Maine. Do you support what the president is doing here with regards to China?

COLLINS: I think we need a more nuanced approach, but I give the president credit for leveeing these tariffs against the Chinese with whom we have talked for a decade about their unfair trade practices and theft of intellectual property from American firms. This is costing us jobs in this country and we do need to get tough with China. But we need to do so in a way that we do not spark a trade war and retaliation that will end up with our European and Asian competitors getting business that otherwise would have come to American farmers and American manufacturers. So, it is a very delicate balancing act that we have to undertake. But we cannot ignore the looming trade deficit with China and the fact that China does not abide by the labor and environmental laws that protect our workers and thus subsidizes major industries in a way to undercut American producers.

TAPPER: On another note, President Trump tweeted that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is doing “a great job.” The president excused a number of controversies. Some of the controversies include that Pruitt rented a room from an energy lobbyist for $50 a night, which is well below market value; he asked for a private plane membership costing $100,000 a month, although they didn't actually do that; he wanted to buy a bulletproof desk that costs $70,000; he requested sirens in traffic because he was late for dinner; he reassigned staffers when they raised ethics concerns about Pruitt’s actions and spending. This is of course in addition to what we learned from AP this week that the EPA spent almost $3 million on Pruitt’s security detail. You were the only Republican senator to vote against Pruitt’s nomination in the first place. Do you think he should resign or be fired?

COLLINS: Well, first of all, let me say that the actions taken by Scott Pruitt in the environmental arena, whether it is trying to undermine the Clean Power Plan or weaken the restrictions on lead or undermine the methane rules, are reasons enough to validate my decision to oppose his confirmation. This daily drip of accusations of excessive spending and ethical violations serve to further distract the agency from accomplishing its very important mission. I think Congress needs to do some oversight. After all, we don't know the extent of the recommendations made by Mr. Pruitt's security team, but on policy grounds alone, I think Scott Pruitt is the wrong person to head the EPA.

TAPPER: Should he resign or be fired?

COLLINS: Well, that is a position that only the president can take at this point. The Congress has no role as far—now that he has been confirmed. I voted against confirming him, but I believe my position was the correct one and has been validated by his actions.

TAPPER: You voted for the Republican tax reform plan in December for a number of reasons. One of the reasons was that you had been assured by the Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, that fixes to Obamacare would pass before the end of the year. In your statement explaining your vote, you pointed directly to those fixes as a main reason you supported the tax plan, writing “having secured these key improvements as well as commitments to legislation to help lower health insurance premiums, I will cast my vote in support of the Senate tax reform bill.” It is April now. You haven't gotten the health care bills that you wanted. Do you think that you were lied to in order to get your vote?

COLLINS: No. I really don't. I had a number of concerns about the tax bill, but I support lowering taxes. We have doubled the standard deduction that is going to help some 72% of American taxpayers. We have made the child care tax credit refundable for the first time. That's going to help that single mom who is making $35,000 actually get money back from the federal government rather than owing taxes. So, there is a lot in the tax bill that is good.

TAPPER: I understand that you support it, but you did say on the Senate floor that repealing the individual mandates, which was in the bill, would almost certainly lead to higher premiums, and a study from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows premiums are expected to climb 52% in Maine this year. This is exactly what you warned about, exactly what you were afraid about. Haven’t these leaders who promised you that this legislation that would help bring relief to them for premiums, haven't they failed your constituents?

COLLINS: Well, first of all, let me say that I had the opportunity just two weeks ago to bring a package to the Senate floor with Senator Lamar Alexander. So, the Majority Leader kept his promise to me. Unfortunately, and much to my surprise—because this was an opportunity to not only prevent those egregious premium increases but actually to lower insurance rates by some 40% over the next two years and expand coverage to 3.2 million people—and much to my surprise it was blocked actually by Senators on the other side of the aisle. That was something that I never anticipated. I think it is very unfortunate. I don't support the individual mandate. I never have. I don’t think, however, it should have been included without offsetting changes. The reason I don't support it: it is highly regressive. Eighty percent of the families who pay the penalty for not buying unaffordable insurance make less than $50,000 a year. So, the individual mandate is not the answer. Lowering the cost of insurance is the answer. That's what our package would have done. We tried to bring it to the Senate floor and attach it to the spending bill and regrettably we were blocked.

TAPPER: Alright, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, thank you so much.

COLLINS: Thank you, Jake.