Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, wants to vote on legislation passed by the House that could end the partial government shutdown.
“Well, I can’t speak for [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell, but I would like to see him bring the House-passed bills to the Senate floor,” Collins told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We could reopen much of government where there’s no dispute over issues involving certain departments like [agriculture], transportation, housing, and interior. Let’s get those reopened while the negotiations continue.”
The House passed two measures last Thursday that would fund several affected departments and agencies through Sept. 30 and the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 8. The legislation provides only $1.3 billion for border security that cannot be used for a southern border wall, which doesn’t add up to President Trump’s demand that Congress allocate $5.6 billion for its construction.
McConnell has said he won’t bring any spending legislation to the Senate floor that is opposed by the White House.
Although Collins said Sunday she understood why McConnell was refusing to call up the spending bills for a vote if Trump would simply veto them, she expressed frustration with the state of the negotiations “where both sides appear to be intransigent.”
“It is not a sign of weakness to try to figure out a middle ground and I think that both sides need to indicate a willingness to listen and to compromise,” she said.
The Maine Republican, however, described the debate over what materials should be used for a physical barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border as “rather bizarre.”
Collins, a four-term senator, also said Sunday it was “too early” to announce whether she would seek re-election again in 2020.
