WELLS — U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, spent Friday touring York County. Her first stop was a breakfast forum in Wells, before a packed audience at The Coastal House, where she discussed some of her accomplishments in the past year, concerns about the federal budget and the military, as well as her hope that the federal government can move beyond partisan politics to work for the benefit of all Americans in the new year.

Collins said she’s troubled that Washington can’t seem to set aside partisanship and bickering to work on the two major problems facing the nation: A lagging economy with 13 million American’s out of work, and a $15 trillion debt.

“Given all that has gone wrong this past year,” said Collins, “the administration and Congress should certainly seize this opportunity (of a new year) to get it right.”

The senator was the featured speaker at the Eggs & Issues breakfast forum, a monthly event sponsored by York County Community College in Wells. YCCC President Charles Lyons said the monthly forums are usually held at the college and attract 30-60 people. But Collins’ appearance attracted far more, 175 people, and so it was held off campus.

“She absolutely lives for the betterment of Maine people,” said YCCC President Lyons, who said he’s known Collins for many years. “She’s good for York County, she’s good for all of Maine.”

During the breakfast, Collins spoke about some of her recent accomplishments in championing issues important to York County and other Maine residents.

One such accomplishment was working to ensure that $20 million in federal funds to help pay for the rebuilding of the Memorial Bridge, a gateway to the state, remained in last year’s federal budget.

Federal backing was key in being able to rebuild the bridge, said Collins, but certain language in the budget threatened the funding. However, she said, she worked with other federal and state officials to secure the funding.

“That’s a model of what we should be doing in Washington, working together,” said the senator.

She also related her work of reaching across the aisle to derail the “attack” by the Department of Agriculture on the Maine potato. Collins said the DOA had sought to limit the servings in school lunches of a category of starchy vegetables, including the potato, to once a month. The estimated cost of this ruling was $6.8 billion over five years, which would have been born mostly by states and local school systems.

“This was Washington overreach at its worst,” said Collins.

By putting aside partisanship she joined with Mark Udall, a Democrat senator from Colorado, to defeat the ruling by eliminating funding for it, she said.

Some of her other accomplishments that played out in 2011, said the senator, resulted in more work and/or upgrades for Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and Bath Irons Work and assisting in the purchase of Timber Point by the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. She and other members of the Maine congressional delegation helped secure $3 million in federal funding for the purchase of the nearly 100-acre parcel of undeveloped forests, wetlands and shoreland in Biddeford, which took place in December.

Collins said she hopes this year, Congress can work together on the many issues facing Mainers ”“ and all Americans.

“We have one of the hardest working senators in the country,” said Biddeford resident and mill owner Doug Sanford, who attended the talk. He said he was impressed by her knowledge on so many issues.

After her speech, Collins addressed concerns about a video apparently showing U.S. Marines urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. Collins said the video is “shocking” and she’s sure it isn’t representative of the behavior of most U.S. soldiers.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.