ICYMI: Senator Collins on NBC Meet the Press
Click HERE to watch Senator Collins’ interview
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Susan Collins appeared on NBC Meet the Press this morning with host Chuck Todd. A transcript of the interview follows:
“MEET THE PRESS”
MARCH 19, 2017
TODD: The President can only afford to lose two Republicans. Right now there are four Republican “nos.” Rand Paul, Mike Lee, who say the bill is too generous, and Dean Heller and Susan Collins, who argue the bill is too harsh. And Senator Susan Collins joins me now from Bangor. Senator Collins, welcome back to the show.
SENATOR COLLINS: Thank you.
TODD: You were very tough on the House bill. You were unambiguous when it came to your “no” vote on that House bill. So, very simply, what would it take to get you from no to yes?
SENATOR COLLINS: We have to deal with three issues. The first is coverage. Under the House bill, 14 million Americans would lose coverage next year. That rises to 24 million over the next decade. Second, we have to do something about the fact that the House bill disproportionately affects older, rural Americans. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that a 64-year-old who is earning $26,500 a year would see an increase in his or her costs from $1,700 to $14,600. That is unaffordable. And third, we have to do something about the Medicaid changes, which ship billions of dollars of costs to the states, to hospitals, and to other people who are insured.
TODD: Do you believe that health care is a right, and if so, that it is a right that the government is responsible for fulfilling?
SENATOR COLLINS: I believe that, as a practical matter, people have a right to health care in that, if they're sick and they go to a hospital, they're not going to be turned away. In fact, federal law requires a hospital to treat someone who comes to an emergency room. But that is the least cost-effective way to treat an individual who does not need emergency room care. So there's a lot that we can do to reduce the cost of health care by, for example, using managed care for the Medicaid program.
TODD: Let me ask you a couple of questions on the president's budget. Is there any part of the president's budget that you support?
SENATOR COLLINS: Yes. I do think that we need an increase for our veterans and that we need an increase in military spending because readiness has really suffered, but I think we may have to do a more gradual increase. One of the most disturbing parts of the president's budget is his slashing the funding for the National Institutes of Health. We have been making tremendous progress in increasing NIH’s budget, and that has helped us develop effective treatments and new cures for very expensive diseases. If we're serious about reducing health care cuts, the last thing that we should be doing is cutting the budget for biomedical research.
TODD: Where do you get the money though? That's going to be the fundamental question is, you know, there's a lot of these programs that I think a lot of people can individually make a case for, and I think what the White House would say is hey, some of these maybe they are good programs that could be done better, but we have a financial problem in this country. We have a rising national debt. We can't seem to get out from under an annual deficit. Where do we find the money? For instance, can we afford a massive tax cut?
SENATOR COLLINS: We do have to scour the budget, and tax reform does not necessarily mean that we're going to have a significant reduction in revenues. It’s possible to come up with a tax reform bill that is more pro-growth, simpler, and fairer and does not substantially reduce revenues. Senator Bill Cassidy and I have a health care bill, and we're looking at different pay-fors for that bill including some that were included for the Affordable Care Act, but some others as well. So we need to scour the budget. There are duplicative programs that could be combined. We need to look at everything. But I’m worried about the outlines of the budget that have been submitted. I would point out that I’ve never seen a president's budget make it through Congress unchanged.
TODD: That's for sure. Let me ask you about the president and the issue of credibility. He continues to believe that he was somehow, either he or his associates, were wiretapped or under surveillance and that it was ordered by President Obama. You also have access to various intelligence. Is there anyway that statement, to your knowledge, is true?
SENATOR COLLINS: I have seen no evidence supporting that statement, and what we need is evidence. If the president has evidence of that, I would encourage him to turn it over to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. We're in the midst of a big investigation of Russian activities in our country, and we want to look at this allegation as well.
TODD: Can you take the president at his word?
SENATOR COLLINS: Yes. Do I think the president gets everything right? No. But I want President Trump, just as I’ve wanted every other president, to be successful because he is America’s president. Now that doesn't mean that I support his policies, and it doesn't mean that I’m going to be with him when I think he's wrong or has misstated what the facts are.
TODD: If he's wrong about this allegation, Congressman Tom Cole said that President Trump owes President Obama an apology. Do you concur?
SENATOR COLLINS: Well, I’d like to first get to the bottom of this before saying what should be done. I don't know the basis for President Trump's assertion, and that's what I wish he would explain to us on the Intelligence Committee and to the American people, and I do believe he owes us that explanation.
TODD: Senator Susan Collins, Republican from Maine. I will leave it there. Senator Collins, thank you for coming on the show and sharing your views.
