Maine Sen. Susan Collins said Sunday she doesn’t know if the Senate health care bill will pass but she remains against it.

Collins spoke on CNN’s “State of the Union” talk show with host Jake Tapper. She also appeared on ABC’s “This Week” with Jonathan Karl to talk about her objections to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s health care proposal.

She also touched on the latest developments in investigations into possible collusion between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia.

Collins has been a frequent guest on news shows this year because of her pivotal stance on McConnell’s alternative to Obamacare. She also sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which has been investigating Russian interference in the November election.

The health care proposal was scheduled for a vote Friday but has now been postponed by McConnell while Arizona Sen. John McCain recovers from surgery for a blood clot, a move that Tapper noted is a clear sign that McConnell needs every vote he can get.

While some Republican senators have received phone calls from President Trump, who supports the measure, Collins said she had not. She said she last spoke to Trump at a White House meeting of the Republican Caucus a few weeks ago. She has spoken to members of his administration about the bill, she said.

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Collins said she disagrees with Vice President Mike Pence’s favorable analysis of the bill. He told the nation’s governors at a conference last week that the bill would strengthen Medicaid.

“I would respectfully disagree. It will cause sweeping, fundamental changes and very deep cuts to Medicaid. It would affect our rural hospitals and nursing homes and they would have a very difficult time even staying in existence. I see it very differently. You can’t take more than $700 billion out of the program and not think it is going to have some kind of effect,” she said.

Collins said she did not support Sen. Ted Cruz’s amendment that would allow insurers to offer bare bones policies as long as they continue to offer policies that meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act.

“It is unworkable,” Collins said, adding that the amendment would offer very skimpy coverage and people with serious medical problems would see their premiums and deductibles soar.

On ABC, Collins told Karl that there are eight to 10 Republicans who have deep concerns about the McConnell bill.

“But how this would all translate out I’m not certain. And I never underestimate Leader McConnell’s skills.”

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Collins said she would like to see a health care bill that fixes the flaws in the current law while going through the normal process of committee hearings, with expert witnesses and bipartisan support.

Tapper turned the discussion to the Russia investigations, Trump’s oldest son’s meeting at Trump Tower with Russians to get dirt on Hillary Clinton, and his conclusion that anyone would have taken that meeting. He asked Collins if she would have taken that meeting.

She said she would not and most candidates wouldn’t.

Collins said she wants the intelligence committee to interview everyone at the meeting, including the Russians, if possible. She said the committee also needs to talk to Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, who was at the meeting.

 

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