Collins Slams Colleagues As Ineffective, Too Partisan
By Otto Kreisher
Published: January 11, 2012
WASHINGTON: Sen. Susan Collins blasted the "highly politicized" nature of Congress, questioning whether Congress can resolve any of the major problems facing it, including the threat of sequestration.
Collins, one of the few surviving Republican moderates on the Hill, noted the positive results for the Navy in the fiscal 2012 defense appropriations during her speech today at the Surface Navy Association's annual conference in Arlington. While congressional appropriators did fund 11 new ships in the legislation, that "came against the background of a harsher partisan environment that continues to get worse," the Maine Republican said. "I've never seen a more polarized environment, which is accompanied by huge challenges to national defense," Collins said.
Congress needs to get past the pattern of Democratic and Republican proposals, "which both sides know will never pass" and get to "more American proposals," she said, drawing long applause from the audience of service members and defense industry representatives.
A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and champion of the Bath Iron Works shipbuilders, Collins worried about the prospects for the Navy and the shipbuilding industrial base due to required defense budget cuts which could double if sequestration kicks in next January. She noted the new national security strategy announced last week should be favorable to the Navy with the emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region, which requires more sea and air forces. But Adm. Mark Ferguson, the Vice Chief of Naval Operations, dashed any prospects for a larger Navy during his speech later that day.
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