WASHINGTON (CNN) - Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins has joined her fellow GOP Sens. Olympia Snowe, Mel Martinez and Richard Lugar in announcing her intent to support Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.
The judge "has impressive legal experience, has excelled throughout her life, and is a tremendously accomplished person," Collins said in a statement released Tuesday.
Collins said she knows that she will not agree with every decision Sotomayor will make as a member of the nation's highest court, but adds that she has "concluded that Judge Sotomayor understands the proper rule of a judge and is committed to applying the law impartially without bias or favoritism."
In a nod to the controversy surrounding Sotomayor's "wise Latina" comment, Collins said Tuesday that her "expectation is that Justice Sotomayor will adhere to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's admonition that "a wise old woman and a wise old man would eventually reach the same conclusion in a case.'"
The Senate Judiciary Committee also decided Tuesday to delay the vote on Sotomayor's nomination for a week.
WASHINGTON (CNN) – Six key senators – three Democrats, one independent and two moderate Republicans – sent a letter to Senate leaders calling for a slowdown in the push for a health care overhaul, in light of the Congressional Budget Office's assessment that the Democratic plan currently being considered would not cut medical costs
CNN Radio: Hear Ben Nelson on “44 with Ed Henry”
"We believe taking additional time to achieve a bipartisan result is critical for legislation that affects 17 percent of our economy and every individual in the U.S.," read the letter, signed by Democrats Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu and Ron Wyden. independent Joe Lieberman and Republicans Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, who also said they were "firmly committed to enactment of comprehensive reform this year."
The letter echoes concerns raised by many conservative Democrats on the House side.
Full text of the letter after the jump.
WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Club for Growth has bestowed the three moderate senators who supported President Obama’s stimulus plan with their monthly “Comrade of the Month” award.
The small government advocacy group announced Tuesday that 86 percent of its members chose to give the February award to Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, who broke with their party last month to give the White House the 60 votes needed to pass the stimulus package.
“As future generations of American taxpayers struggle to pay off the country’s mountain of debt, they will have these three Republican Senators to thank,” said Club for Growth Executive Director David Keating in a press release.
According to the group, the dubious honor “is awarded at the end every month to the public official or figure who best lives up to the policies of big government and favors restrictions on economic freedom.”
The jab at Specter is particularly eyebrow-raising because it comes one day after the Club’s president, Pat Toomey, said he is considering challenging the Pennsylvania senator in next year’s Republican primary. If Toomey runs, it would set-up a re-match of the bruising 2004 GOP primary battle that Specter ultimately won.
(CNN) – An influential conservative political action committee is pledging to support primary challengers to any Republican senator who supports President Obama's stimulus package - the latest public show of dissatisfaction from the right over the massive measure before Congress.
"The American people don’t want this trillion dollar political payoff that will just line the pockets of non-governmental organizations who supported [President] Obama in the election,” said Scott Wheeler, the executive director of The National Republican Trust PAC, an organization that calls for less government spending and lower taxes.
Related: For House and Senate, time to settle stimulus
“Republican senators are on notice," Wheeler said. "If they support the stimulus package, we will make sure every voter in their state knows how they tried to further bankrupt voters in an already bad economy.”
In a Senate vote Tuesday, only three Republicans backed the $838 billion measure - Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, and Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter.
All three senators were involved in cutting spending proposals from the plan, and have said they may not vote for the final version bill if more spending projects are added to it.
WASHINGTON (CNN) – A conservative group is robo-calling voters in Pennsylvania and Maine, urging them to call their Republican senators and demand they stop supporting President Obama’s stimulus package.
In a last-minute effort to force Republican senators Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins into voting against the bill, Delaware-based ‘Let Freedom Ring’ began running 100,000 robocalls Tuesday in Pennsylvania and 50,000 more calls in Maine, according to Colin Hanna, the group’s president.
The Senate vote could come as early as this afternoon, and the measure is expected to pass with the support of the three Republican senators who helped craft the legislation.
“Would you be willing to contact your senator Arlen Specter today and tell him to vote no on the Obama tax and spend plan?” the Pennsylvania call asks, before providing a phone call for Specter’s Washington office.
From CNN Politics
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