By far, the biggest news in the U.S. Congress the past month has been the Build Back Better bill, passed by the House of Representatives. There are articles daily on how Sen. Joe Manchin will vote on this and the pressure he is facing.

Sen. Susan Collins is an assumed “no” vote on this bill as well as the vital voting rights bill, which many Americans and Mainers support. She is getting little to no pressure on these bills, and there are no stories on her decided lack of support.

All the attention is on Manchin, and it is assumed since Sen. Collins is a Republican, she won’t (or doesn’t have to) vote for these pieces of legislation, which many would argue will have more of a positive impact on Americans than any legislation since the Great Society of the 1960s. A lot of us Mainers see a pattern here – that Sen. Collins gets off scot-free when she votes blindly with her party and goes against what is good for the people of Maine.

At the very least, she should have to explain her position to our newspapers and local media as to why she is against popular and important programs such as voting rights, universal preschool, combating climate change and expanding health care. Our reporters should also be interviewing groups in Maine that are pushing hard for these bills to make our lives here better.

Darren Wallach
father and youth advocate
Brunswick