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Much has been made of Sen. Collins’ vote to approve Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination. Her defenders have said that even though she voted for all of the conservative justices except Justice Amy Coney Barrett her vote for those justices wasn’t the deciding vote.
But there is more to the story. Collins voted to approve almost all of President Donald Trump’s cabinet picks including Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem who were later fired because they failed to do their jobs. She voted for Russell Vought who has impounded money approved by Congress that was headed for Maine. And she also voted for Interior Secretary Doug Burgum who siphoned maintenance project funds from Acadia National Park for Trump’s vanity projects.
The Federal News network reports: “Meanwhile, almost all of about 1,500 maintenance and other projects on the low priority list as of last month are expected to go undone, the officials said. That will worsen a repair backlog at national parks that doubled over the last decade to more than $24 billion even as visitor numbers surged.”
Collins and the Republicans allocated these essential funds and Congress has allowed this to be taken away without a fight. Maine can’t afford to have Acadia National Park fall into disrepair as it brings in over $700 million a year to our beautiful state.
Gary Loft
Lamoine