Susan Collins

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Susan Collins

DOJ To Senators: Don't Blame Us For The Anti-Muslim Training We Funded

Ryan J. Reilly | October 21, 2011, 6:00AM

The Justice Department has a message for the Senators worried that federal funds are flowing to anti-Muslim training programs: no worries, we've got this thing.

TPM obtained a copy of a letter DOJ sent to Sens. Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins nearly six months after the lawmakers first asked for answers about biased counterterrorism training sessions being funded by taxpayers.

Basically there are two ways that federal dollars from the Justice Department could potentially fund biased training. First, there's DOJ's State and Local Anti-Terrorism Training (SLATT) program, which officials say they've got a pretty good handle on.

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Topics: Civil Rights Division, DOJ, DOJ Civil Rights Division, Islam, Islamic Terrorism, Islamophobia, Joe Lieberman, Justice Department, Muslim-Americans, Muslims, Susan Collins

Joe Lieberman

Lieberman, Collins: If Obama Won't Do Something About Anti-Muslim Counterterrorism Training, We Will

Ryan J. Reilly | September 12, 2011, 6:05PM

Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins

Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) aren't messing around when it comes to stopping federal dollars from flowing to anti-Muslim terrorism training. In a letter to Obama on Tuesday, the duo said that if the administration can't develop criteria to keep bigoted information out of counter-terrorism training, they'll "consider drafting a legislative mandate or even imposing standards by statute."

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Topics: Counterterrorism, Islam, Islamic Terrorism, Islamophobia, Joe Lieberman, Muslim-Americans, Muslims, Susan Collins, Terrorism

Joe Lieberman

Lieberman Warns Federal Employees To Stay Off This List

Ryan J. Reilly | February 17, 2011, 10:10AM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT)

"Americans love lists," Sen. Joe Lieberman told reporters yesterday as he and other members of Congress gathered at a news conference to discuss the Government Accountability Office's "High Risk" list -- a group of programs that are susceptible to waste, fraud and abuse.

That list, Lieberman noted, isn't one you want to be on if you're a federal worker. It chronicles 30 government programs, many of which have been on the list for a long time, that are at high risk for waste and will help provide a "roadmap" for Congressional oversight in the coming months.

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Topics: Congress, Darrell Issa, Department of Interior, Government Accountability Office, Government Waste, Joe Lieberman, Susan Collins

Fort Hood

Lieberman Claims White House Won't Say 'Islamic Extremists'

Melissa Jeltsen | February 15, 2011, 1:24PM

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT)

What message should we take away from the Fort Hood massacre, where 13 people were allegedly murdered by radicalized Muslim army psychiatrist Nadal Hasan? According to Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME), the takeaway is that the U.S. should to stop beating around the bush and call America's enemies what they supposedly are: "Islamic extremists."

Lieberman convened the hearing ostensibly to discuss the recently-released report that criticized the federal government for failing to prevent the massacre by not taking appropriate action to remove Hasan from the military. But it quickly turned into a denunciation of the language the Administration supposedly uses to discuss violent acts.

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Topics: Domestic Terrorism, Fort Hood, Joe Lieberman, Nidal Malik Hasan, Senate Homeland Security Committee, Susan Collins, Texas

U.S. Postal Service

Postal Employees Charge 'Adult Entertainment,' Plane Tickets For Family To Gov't Credit Card

Ryan J. Reilly | February 14, 2011, 9:46AM

One Postal Service employee used his government travel card at adult entertainment establishments more than 50 times. Another paid for an Apple computer and his mortgage. Three others purchased airfare tickets (including tickets to Spain and Italy) for family and friends.

That's all according to a Postal Service Inspector General report issued last week on non-compliance with travel policies. The travel cards are actually placed in the employees names, so it isn't clear whether the government paid for the expenditures in question. But regulations do clearly state that "employees may not use their official government travel card for personal business," according to the report.

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Topics: Inspector General Report, Susan Collins, Tom Carper, U.S. Postal Service

Fort Hood Shootings

Lieberman, Collins Report: Fort Hood Shooting Could Have Been Prevented

Ryan J. Reilly | February 3, 2011, 2:05PM

Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)

The federal government could have prevented the massacre at Fort Hood allegedly perpetrated by Nadal Hasan if it had recognized signals of his radicalization prior to the attack, a special report issued by members of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs concluded.

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Topics: FBI, Fort Hood, Fort Hood Shootings, Joe Lieberman, Nidal Malik Hasan, Susan Collins

Don't Ask Don't Tell

Senate Blocks DADT Repeal

Rachel Slajda | September 21, 2010, 3:01PM

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)

The Senate today blocked the start of debate on the National Defense Authorization Act, with Republicans objecting to a provision that would repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The vote was 56 to 43, with 60 votes needed to break the filibuster.

Two Democratic senators, Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln, both from Arkansas, voted with Republicans to block the bill. Majority Leader Harry Reid also voted no, a procedural move so he can bring the cloture motion back to the floor later.

DADT was one of several sticking points of the defense authorization bill, which must pass in order to fund the military.

Republican senators, including Sens. John McCain (AZ) and Susan Collins (ME), argued that passing repeal now would undermine the Defense Department's review of the policy, which won't be completed until December.

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Topics: Don't Ask Don't Tell, Gay Rights, Harry Reid, John McCain, Lady Gaga, Susan Collins

PhRMA

Drug-Makers Paying Off Competitors To Keep Cheap Generics Off Market

Zachary Roth | December 2, 2009, 3:07PM

Republicans and their allies in the business community talk a good game about the virtues of free-market competition. But, as we've seen in the debate over the public option, that stance often goes out the window when corporate profits are at stake.

And now we've got another example -- one of the sleaziest and most blatantly self-serving yet.

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Topics: Chuck Grassley, FTC, Herb Kohl, Jon Leibowitz, Lobbyists, PhRMA, Susan Collins

Source: Collins Strips Stim Bill Of Whistleblower Protections

Zachary Roth | February 11, 2009, 6:57PM

Another great coup for the centrists!

Sen. Susan Collins, the Maine GOP dealmaker who's been in the limelight this week for helping to pass a watered down stimulus, has been talking a good game about the need to avoid wasting taxpayer money. But it looks like Collins also worked today to strip from the final bill a measure that's crucial to exposing that waste.

Here's what happened:

The House stimulus bill contained a provision designed to protect federal whistleblowers. Currently, those protections are shockingly weak. According to the Project On Government Oversight, whistleblowers who are fired or demoted can file a complaint with a government board -- but over the last eight years, that board has ruled in favor of whistleblowers only twice in 55 cases.

More to the point, the protections were designed to encourage federal workers to point out cases where taxpayer money is subject to waste, fraud, or abuse -- a legitimate concern when Congress spends $800 billion, and one that centrists and Republicans have been particularly exercised about.

Yesterday, 20 members of the House, from both parties, sent a letter to House negotiators urging them to ensure that the protections remained.

But, according to a person following the bill closely, Collins used today's conference committee to drastically water down the measure, citing national security concerns as the reason for her opposition. In the end, the protections were so weakened that House negotiators balked, and the result was that the entire amendment was removed.

According to the person following the bill, Collins was the "central roadblock" to passing the protections.

To make matter worse, Collins is the ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs commitee, which, as an oversight committee, might be expected to see its role as protecting whistleblowers. She also sits on the Senate appropriations committee, giving her a strong position from which to wield influence during today's negotiations.

Though Senate leader Harry Reid supported the protections, said the source, he wasn't willing to strong-arm Collins on the issue, given her central role in negotiations over the stimulus bill as a whole.

So when, in the coming months, conservatives start jumping up and down over the fact that money from the stimulus bill is being wasted, as they surely will, it's worth remember that a key measure designed to help expose that waste was removed from the bill -- and by a senator said to be a champion of fiscal discipline.

Senator Collins's press secretary did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Topics: Susan Collins, Whistleblowers