SANFORD — Sen. Susan Collins is looking for a one-year “time-out” on the implementation of some new federal regulations while the nation continues coping with a downed economy and millions of unemployed who still cannot find work.

And in the midst of a fiscal crisis with the national debt at $14.3 trillion, Collins said she believes Americans will step up to the plate. She hinted at some choices that might be unpalatable ”“ as well as some that she said make sense.

Collins spoke to the Sanford Springvale Rotary Club at their breakfast meeting Thursday, outlining the need for America ”“ and Congress ”“ to come together to solve the nation’s fiscal problems. Following the session, she met behind closed doors with members of the Sanford Regional Economic Growth Council, Town Manager Mark Green, Councilor Anne Marie Mastraccio and others.

And between the two sessions, she took time out to take questions from reporters.

Collins pointed to proposed regulations, like one advanced by the Environmental Protection Agency, imposing new restrictions on emissions from boilers, which she says the EPA itself admits would cost the private sector billions as well as thousands of jobs.

“If it went into effect as written, a recent study estimates this rule, along with other pending regulations, could cause 36 pulp and paper mills around the country to close,” Collins said. “That would put more than 20,000 Americans out of work ”“ 18 percent of that industry’s workforce.”

She told reporters that during her proposed “time-out” she envisions reform of the regulatory process and has introduced bills to that end. One would require a cost-benefit analysis that takes costs like the loss of jobs into consideration. Another would allow a waiver for a first-time violation of a paperwork error if no harm has been done, she said.

Collins told Rotarians the nation’s tax code needs an overhaul. And she pointed out that in this year’s federal budget, the government spent more on Medicare and Medicaid than it did for defense.

She said that simply reducing foreign aid, as suggested by some, won’t fix the fiscal crisis. Reducing foreign aid could be a component of spending cuts, she said, but the aid comprises just 1 percent of the budget.

“In my view, we need more revenue,” she said, in part, and called for a tax overhaul and spending cuts. “We can’t put anything off limits. We can’t say we won’t touch entitlement programs,” which she asserted will go broke without reform.

The senator pointed out that last year, the federal government borrowed 40 cents of every dollar spent.

“It is estimated that by the middle of this decade our interest payments to China, our largest creditor, will be covering the entire cost of that communist country’s military,” Collins said. “At the same time that America is bound by treaties to defend our allies in Asia against Chinese aggression, the American taxpayers are bankrolling the threat.”

She said the daily interest rate on the national debt at $775 billion is more than Maine’s forestry, agriculture and fishing industries produce in a year.

And she referred to the acrimony that exists in Congress, calling the atmosphere “poisonous.”

“Tackling these problems by delivering common-sense, competent government worthy of the American people requires all of us in Washington to work together,” said Collins. “Yet, too often in today’s poisonous atmosphere, those of us who reach across the aisle to work with colleagues of a different party end up vilified by both the far left and the far right. Yet, the problems we face are far too serious for them to be labeled as ”˜Democratic’ or ”˜Republican.’ As one constituent said to me, ”˜Why can’t you all be Americans first?’”

Collins had been scheduled to speak to the Rotary Club in July but was called back to Washington as Congress dealt with the debt-ceiling issue. She was introduced by Rotarian Robert Hardison, a fellow Aroostook County native.

“We’ve exhausted all the alternatives ”“ excessive borrowing, budgetary gimmicks, printing money, the blame game, and all the other attempts to avoid responsibility,” Collins said. “Now, we are left with that quality of our national character that has seen us through crises since our founding ”“ our resolve, and our willingness to pull together.

“But it is going to require the American people to recognize how difficult the choices are, to understand the need for sacrifice, and to support lawmakers who are willing to put the next generation ahead of the next election.”

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.