To the editor:
When the new tariffs on Canada threatened to drive up the cost of road salt and cement for Maine towns, contractors and mills, Susan Collins went straight to the Commerce Secretary and the U.S. Trade Representative and made the case for an exemption. Within days, the White House carved road salt and cement out of the tariffs.
That is what seniority looks like. A senator who has spent 30 years building relationships in Washington and who chairs the Appropriations Committee doesn’t have to hold a press conference and hope. She makes the call, and things move. She isn’t done, either. Tariffs on forest products are still hitting Maine’s paper mills, and Collins is pressing the administration to get back to the table with Canada.
I’ve seen that same clout work closer to home. My husband is a sergeant with the Caribou Police Department. Our officers work out of the basement of a building from 1939, in conditions no one would accept for the people who keep us safe. Senator Collins secured $2.5 million in federal funding toward a new station. That didn’t happen because someone gave a speech. It happened because a senior appropriator from Caribou made it a priority.
And I have family and friends in Israel. When allegations surfaced that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East employees took part in the Oct. 7 attacks, Collins called for suspending U.S. funding and demanded an investigation. She has been a steady friend to Israel when that has not always been easy.
A freshman senator could not do any of this. No committee gavel, no relationships, no track record. Troy Jackson could give an angry speech. What he couldn’t do is fix a problem for Maine towns in a week, or bring $2.5 million home to Caribou.
Maine has a senator who gets results. Let’s keep her.
Emily Scott
Stockholm
