ICYMI: Collins Stood with Trump in War Powers Resolution Vote

Augusta, Maine - Once again, Susan Collins sided with Donald Trump, voting against a war powers resolution that would have halted U.S. military action against Iran that Trump initiated without authorization from Congress.

Instead of defending Congress's constitutional authority to assert a critical check on executive power, Collins chose to protect Trump - giving him broader authority to act without accountability.

REMINDER:

• Collins votes with Trump 96% of the time.
• Collins serves as a "regular deciding vote" on "important Republican policies" and nominations.
• Collins greenlitMedicaid cuts that are forcing 61,000Mainers to lose their health care coverage and number of rural Maine hospitals to shut down.

Here's what they are saying:

• Bangor Daily News: Susan Collins joins Republicans to block attempt to rein in Trump's Iran powers

• Senate Republicans including Susan Collins of Maine blocked a resolution aiming to stop President Donald Trump's air war and require that any hostilities against Iran be authorized by Congress.

• All Republicans except Rand Paul of Kentucky voted against the resolution backed mostly by Democrats in the 53-47 vote.

• [...] The measure had not been expected to succeed. Collins, whose seat is one of Democrats' top targets in the 2026 election, was being watched after bucking her party in 2020 to vote to limit Trump's authority to wage war with Iran. But she also voted last year to preserve his ability to conduct targeted strikes and supported those on nuclear facilities at that time.

• Independent Angus King of Maine said it's "very disturbing" that Trump took the U.S. to war because Israel wanted to bomb Iran.

• Maine Public: Angus King and Susan Collins split over Iran war powers resolution

• Maine's two senators cast opposing votes Wednesday evening on a war powers resolution that would have required the Trump administration to receive congressional approval for additional military action in Iran.

• Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins joined with nearly all of her GOP colleagues in opposing the resolution.

• But independent U.S. Sen. Angus King said the Constitution does not allow presidents to unilaterally commit the U.S. to a major conflict. In a video message released after the vote, King said the Trump administration has yet to provide a consistent, coherent explanation for why large-scale military action was needed or what "imminent threat" Iran posed.

• Punchbowl: Republicans want it both ways on Iran

• Senators were forced Wednesday to go on the record on whether to back a war that Trump senior administration officials are warning could drag on for weeks and may eventually include U.S. boots on the ground.

• Even Republicans who have supported war-powers efforts in the past and could face political blowback by voting to back the Trump administration's actions are defaulting to a position that unites the GOP: Hawkishness toward Iran.

• That includes Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the most at-risk Republican in the midterms, who voted against reining in Trump over Iran.

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