U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said Sunday she would like to see changes in the Senate’s tax reform bill, such as removing a provision that would repeal the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, but didn’t say how she would vote on the measure.
Collins, who appeared on ABC’s “This Week” and CNN’s “State of the Union” news programs, also weighed in on the sexual misconduct scandals roiling the nation and official Washington.
On ABC she said she liked parts of both the Senate and House tax reform bills and wants to see where negotiations go before making up her mind whether to support the final proposal.
Asked by host George Stephanopoulos whether she could vote for the Senate version as it is now written, Collins said, “I haven’t reached that conclusion yet.”
Collins said on both networks she is working on legislation that would mitigate the impact of changes to the Affordable Care Act in the Senate bill and hopes that the Senate will vote on that before passing tax reform.
She also repeated her concerns that tax cuts for the middle class in the Senate bill would expire while the corporate tax benefits would be permanent. She said she would like to see the corporate tax rate brought up from the proposed 20 percent to 22 percent, which would allow state and local tax deductions to be restored.
Addressing the sex scandals that have rocked the political, entertainment, sports and corporate worlds this fall, Collins said she hoped that voters in Alabama would not elect embattled Senate candidate Roy Moore, who is facing a number of allegations of sexual misconduct involving teenage girls. She said she didn’t support President Trump when he was a candidate last year because of all the reports by women of his sexual misconduct toward them.
“He is president now and I am working with him on some issues,” Collins said.
She also called the allegations by radio newscaster Leeann Tweeden that U.S. Sen. Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, groped her during a USO tour in 2006 worthy of an investigation by Congress.
“I did find them to be credible, disgusting, appalling and degrading to women,” she said.
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