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A top Senate Democrat whom U.S. Sen. Susan Collins accused this week of blocking a lobstering bill told Maine fishermen in Ellsworth on Saturday that she would help move it, according to the union leader who organized the meeting.
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, held the closed-door meeting at the Ellsworth Elks Lodge with former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, the Democrat challenging Collins in Tuesday’s election.
The bill now appears to be on solid footing in the Senate, thanks in part to one-upmanship in the toss-up race between Collins and Jackson, which could decide control of the chamber. It broke out when word of the meeting leaked this week. On Thursday, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the commerce chairman, said his panel would take up the bill next month and credited Collins.
“Exactly what we’re asking for was bipartisanship for the industry, and I’m pretty sure we got that,” said Virginia Olsen, the political director of the Maine Lobstering Union Local 207, who organized the event billed as an opportunity for fishermen to speak to Cantwell.
The bill, championed by outgoing U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from Maine’s 2nd District, would extend a pause on new federal rules meant to protect endangered whales from 2028 through 2035. It will need Democratic votes to get through the Senate, and the lame-duck session is the last chance to pass it before a new Congress arrives in January.
The fight over credit has also gotten personal. On Friday, Collins told Fox News that Cantwell worked against the Maine delegation’s effort to stop Biden administration regulations in 2022 and has been blocking the extension this year.
Her office got more specific Saturday. Collins spokesperson Phoebe Keller said the pause was added to the last page of the 2022 government funding bill in the final hours of negotiations. Collins started out seeking 10 years but went down to eight and then six because Cantwell kept pushing back, Keller said.
“We’re glad she flipped her position today,” Keller said.
Neither Jackson’s campaign nor Cantwell’s office commented on the Saturday meeting. In a statement to Fox News, the Washington senator called criticisms from Collins “desperate” and “false accusations.”
“I support the Northeast Lobsterman Protection Act and extending regulatory relief for Maine lobstermen through 2035,” she said. “When the Senate returns next week, I will continue to do the hard work on this bill, instead of engaging in political finger pointing.”
Olsen said the machinists saw Cantwell as helpful in 2022. Dave Sullivan, the International Association of Machinists’ general vice president for the Eastern Territory, reached out to her for help with the pause then, she said. Sullivan and the IAM are close to Jackson. The union’s Maine State Council endorsed him in July and paid him $90,000 as a consultant until he won the Senate nomination in August.
The House passed the extension 219-196 in September, with 10 Democrats in support. Golden first introduced the bill, but Republican leaders moved an identical version from U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler, R-New York, who is in a toss-up race. Golden worked with former Gov. Paul LePage, the Republican running to replace him, to lock down Republican support.
Environmental groups oppose the extension, noting the right whale population is estimated at roughly 380. Industry groups point to federal data showing more births since the first pause.
Collins’ office said Republicans plan to move the extension as a standalone bill rather than attach it to a larger package, as the delegation did with the pause in 2022. That means it would need to clear the Senate’s 60-vote threshold or pass by unanimous consent.
Cantwell and Jackson spent Friday on the water with a lobsterman on a trip Olsen set up. She noted the Saturday meeting was planned before Cruz’s announcement and was kept quiet so it would not become a political event. Reporters were not allowed in.
Olsen said Jackson “barely spoke,” mostly about getting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to survey the Gulf of Maine.
“I didn’t want it to be a campaign event,” Olsen said. “I wanted fishermen to be comfortable speaking their thoughts, and that’s just what it was.”