(CNN) - Retiring Sen. Olympia Snowe said Americans are "fed up with the posturing in Washington."
A moderate Republican from Maine, Snowe shocked the political world in February when she announced that she would not seek a fourth term in the Senate because of its "debilitating partisanship, polarization and the overall dysfunction."
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"They have manufactured all the crisises that have developed in the last two years with regard to the economy and the debt ceiling and the fiscal crisis, deferring the tax cut expiration, the spending cuts," she said Monday. " All of that has been manufactured by Congress."
"It's because it was all positioning for the next election," Snowe continued, adding the inability of lawmakers to reach common ground was because of political interests instead of the best course for country.
Sen.-elect Angus King, an independent who won Olympia's seat, announced last week he would caucus with Democrats, giving the party a ten-vote advantage over Republicans in the upper chamber.