Graham Plattner accuses Susan Collins of putting billionaires before Mainers in a fiery Senate campaign speech that has ignited a statewide political debate.
Watch the explosive moment as Graham Plattner takes aim at Susan Collins over healthcare, Medicaid, rural hospitals, and corporate influence in one of his strongest speeches yet.
Maine politics is heating up after Graham Plattner delivered a powerful speech accusing Susan Collins of prioritizing billionaire donors and corporate interests over the needs of working Mainers. Speaking outside the former Northern Light hospital in Waterville, Graham Plattner argued that Maine's rural healthcare crisis is the result of years of political decisions, claiming that Susan Collins has consistently supported policies that benefit powerful interests while communities struggle with hospital closures, rising healthcare costs, and reduced access to medical care.
#GrahamPlattner #SusanCollins #MainePolitics #MaineSenate #USSenate #Healthcare #Medicaid #RuralHealthcare #MedicareForAll #NorthernLight #Waterville #Election2026 #CampaignSpeech #PoliticalNews #USElections #MaineNews #HealthcareCrisis #Campaign2026 #USPolitics #BreakingNews #PoliticalAnalysis #MedicaidCuts #SenateRace #WorkingFamilies #ElectionNews
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Watch the explosive moment as Graham Plattner takes aim at Susan Collins over healthcare, Medicaid, rural hospitals, and corporate influence in one of his strongest speeches yet.
Maine politics is heating up after Graham Plattner delivered a powerful speech accusing Susan Collins of prioritizing billionaire donors and corporate interests over the needs of working Mainers. Speaking outside the former Northern Light hospital in Waterville, Graham Plattner argued that Maine's rural healthcare crisis is the result of years of political decisions, claiming that Susan Collins has consistently supported policies that benefit powerful interests while communities struggle with hospital closures, rising healthcare costs, and reduced access to medical care.
#GrahamPlattner #SusanCollins #MainePolitics #MaineSenate #USSenate #Healthcare #Medicaid #RuralHealthcare #MedicareForAll #NorthernLight #Waterville #Election2026 #CampaignSpeech #PoliticalNews #USElections #MaineNews #HealthcareCrisis #Campaign2026 #USPolitics #BreakingNews #PoliticalAnalysis #MedicaidCuts #SenateRace #WorkingFamilies #ElectionNews
~PR.152~ED.102~HT.178~GR.538~VG.HM~
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hey, I'm really glad to be here today with everybody.
00:03My name is Kyla Michalovitz.
00:05I was a patient at Northern Light.
00:07When the hospital closed, my family was thrown into a state of uncertainty regarding our access to health care.
00:12Through sheer providence, my husband and I's primary care doctor relocated to a practice in Unity.
00:17Unity is as far away from our home in Winslow as the health care centers in Augusta are.
00:22We consider ourselves lucky to get an appointment once a year for our annual checkups.
00:26Many of my friends and neighbors lost their doctors and are on an excruciatingly long waiting lists.
00:31While I still have access to some health care, I do not have access to the same health care I
00:35had before Northern Light closed their doors.
00:38Specifically, I no longer have access to the Women's Health Care Center at Northern Light.
00:42I'll be turning 40 later this year, and with that milestone in my life comes another, my over-40 mammogram.
00:48I do not currently know where I will be able to obtain this very specific and life-saving preventative care.
00:56When I'm eventually routed to some center in Augusta or Portland, it'll be my first time as a patient there.
01:02Because my hospital closed, I no longer have any semblance of continuity of care available for me at this crucial
01:09time in my life.
01:10For women, especially since we are very often not listened to, dismissed, or even believed by certain health care providers,
01:17especially when we see them for the first time, continuity of care is crucial.
01:23Because our community hospital closed, it will take years for my family to establish care outside of our community.
01:28The hospital system in Augusta does not have the capacity to absorb every patient that was left behind when Northern
01:35Light closed.
01:36Having to travel to Augusta or Portland for care is an undue burden upon the people and families in Mid
01:42-Main and our surrounding communities.
01:44We need leadership that's willing to go to bat for us on health care.
01:48Graham Plattner is that leader, and that's why my family supports him as our next senator.
01:53In contrast, Susan Collins puts her party lines over the lifelines of Mainers, and has helped to pass legislation like
02:01the One Big Beautiful Bill,
02:02legislation that took an axe to affordable health care across our nation and our rural hospitals in Maine.
02:09Another six years under Collins will cause more hospitals to close, like the one we are standing in front of.
02:15All because she would rather vote on the side of her private equity donors and out-of-state billionaires.
02:24It's time to do away with empty promises and feign concern from lacking leadership that cares more about their investment
02:30portfolio than investments in our communities.
02:33I'd like to now welcome Dr. Samantha.
02:38Hi, my name is Samantha.
02:41I'm a physician practicing in Kennebec and Penobscot counties.
02:45I have the honor of taking care of Mainers throughout all stages of their life.
02:50I take care of rural Mainers who deserve access to the same excellent health care as those folks who live
02:57in cities.
02:58I had the pleasure of giving birth to two of my kids in a hospital in Maine and receiving fantastic
03:04health care
03:05from the family physicians and residents who did my delivery to the nurses who took care of me.
03:12Many people in Maine don't have that option close to home now.
03:15I have worked with groups of health care providers in Maine recently to plan how to train EMS providers
03:24to safely deliver babies in communities that don't have access to safe birthing centers,
03:31which feels like putting a Band-Aid on a public health problem that shouldn't exist.
03:36When I had supper with my family last night, my seven-year-old asked me, why are hospitals closing?
03:42It's really hard to explain.
03:45But what's easy to see is that insurance companies are posting billions of dollars in profits,
03:51while the patients that I take care of have their health care denied and their health care services
04:01and facilities closed.
04:04That shouldn't be happening, and it's a public health problem that needs a new and creative solution
04:11that I think Graham can offer us.
04:12Thank you so much.
04:14Next up is Nurse Michaela.
04:20Hi. I'm a nurse. I'm 29 years old, and I grew up in Maine.
04:25Growing up here, I always knew that I would have to leave in order to obtain a fulfilling life.
04:29My dad died on his retirement day after working at BIW for over 30 years
04:34and fighting what many assumed to be an aggressive environmentally-related cancer.
04:38I lost my dad at 19, and in doing that, I realized just how unhelpful our system is.
04:43Hours of listening to terrible hold music, while waiting to speak with yet another 2-1-1 resource
04:49that would eventually lead me to more debt.
04:52So I worked. I got my emergency medical technician certification,
04:56and I worked full-time at a local hospital while going to nursing school
04:59at the University of Southern Maine.
05:00I worked so hard, I gave myself shingles at 20 years old.
05:05See, I had moved to North Carolina after high school,
05:07and I quickly realized that Mainers are a different type of people.
05:12They were my people.
05:14After moving back and graduating nursing school,
05:16I thought maybe I could finally take a deep breath.
05:18I had saved and saved and wanted to purchase a house
05:21so I could finally feel a sense of permanency again.
05:24Unfortunately, I was a lowly blue-collar worker buying in a boomers market.
05:28I had decided to work at Main General while having clinicals there.
05:31To me, it was a beautiful hospital and a great area.
05:33I thankfully got a job after graduating in the operating room,
05:37and two years later, purchased a house in Augusta.
05:39It felt like things were coming together.
05:41Not long after, I learned from the new grad, experienced nurse I was training,
05:46that she was making dollars more an hour than I was.
05:49After many meetings, going up the chain of command,
05:52all the way up to the new CEO of the hospital,
05:54I was told my salary woes were equivalent to the CEO's inability
05:58to purchase the house he wanted in Hollowell,
06:00because he had to keep the second house in Cape Elizabeth
06:03so his daughter could graduate high school there.
06:06This is how out of touch these executives are.
06:09My raises that following year were not equitable.
06:12Bills got more expensive and my wages never kept up.
06:14So, like little Michaela thought, I now commute three hours every week
06:18to hospitals around New England as a travel nurse
06:21so that I can have a somewhat livable wage and a balance between work and life.
06:25This is what your new generation is facing,
06:27and we have no other choice but to fix it ourselves.
06:30Aligning with candidates like Graham, we the people,
06:33will bring down the corporations, their executives,
06:36and the politicians they buy out to tear down the system that they built
06:40so that we can rebuild it for the working class.
06:43I'm going to pass you to Karen Heck, who's been a long time Graham supporter.
06:52As a former mayor, I'm delighted to welcome you all to Waterville,
06:56and Graham to welcome him back.
06:58My name is Karen Heck, and I'm here today to mourn the passage of a truly ugly bill that was
07:05passed last July.
07:08It's a bill that will take billions of dollars out of the pockets of working people for years to come.
07:14One of the most significant ways in which this will be accomplished will be deep cuts to Medicaid,
07:21the elimination of health insurance, subsidies, and by closing hospitals and clinics.
07:28Hospitals like Northern Light in Waterville, and services like those of the Edmond Irvin Pediatric Clinic in Augusta.
07:37The closure of Northern Light left 309 employees struggling to find jobs and 5,000 patients struggling to find primary
07:47care providers.
07:49Even before closing, the hospital had discontinued women's reproductive health care services and its birthing unit.
07:56Last year's closing of the Irvin Pediatric Clinic created years-long waiting lists for children needing a disability diagnosis in
08:07order to get treatment.
08:09The money saved, or better described as stolen from those services,
08:14will then be transferred as tax cuts to line the already full pockets of the Epstein class.
08:21The person who cast the key vote in moving this theft forward was none other than Susan Collins.
08:30We deserve good health care paid for with our tax dollars, and don't believe the Republicans when they yell,
08:36socialize medicine! Every one of those Republican legislators at both the state and the federal level
08:43gets his or her health care paid for with our tax dollars, but you don't hear them complaining about that.
08:51They don't say that's socialized. They will, though, say they are working for us, so they deserve that benefit.
08:58I say, so do we. I've been living with my partner for 17 years when he decided to leave his
09:05job to start
09:06a small winery in Decidlery. In order for him to afford health insurance, we needed to get married,
09:13so he would be covered by my employer's plan. What a ridiculous situation. Imagine the economic
09:22potential that would be unleashed if people could afford to start a small business without worrying
09:28about the astronomical cost of health insurance or health care should they get sick. For the past 40
09:35years I have been working for universal health care, and for 40 years I have heard elected officials say,
09:42we can't afford it. I don't believe him, and I believe we can, and so does Graham Plattner.
09:49I'm supporting Graham for Senate because he doesn't say we can't afford it. He says we deserve it,
09:55and if we stopped paying for useless wars and billionaire tax breaks, we could have plenty of
10:01money to provide it. We could even afford to feed, clothe, and house people in addition to providing
10:08health care for all. What a concept. Take a minute and visualize what Maine could look like with someone
10:16who will fight for us and not the billionaires. It's a pretty amazing thought, and there are thousands
10:22of us who are focusing on that vision. We're not sidetracked by the millions of dollars being sent to
10:29this state to distract us. Our eyes are on the prize. Our vision is one of inclusion, of taking care
10:36of
10:36each other when we are sick, of hospitals located near us providing services that we need with health
10:44providers who have time to listen to us, and health insurance that doesn't first deny and then
10:50bankrupt us. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm supporting Graham Plattner for United
10:56States Senate because it's the many, not the money, that should create the policies that affect us all.
11:04Thank you. Now I'd like to introduce Representative Valli Geiger, who's also a long-time supporter of Graham.
11:14Where'd she go? Thank you. Good morning. My name is Valli Geiger. I'm a state representative for
11:22Rockland, Owlshead, North Haven, and a couple tiny little islands that don't have any year-round people.
11:28I'm also a nurse. You know, there was a moment in 2009 when President Obama was elected. At the time,
11:37I was the clinical director for all of the federally qualified health centers in Maine.
11:42Those health centers were founded on a mission of serving all people regardless of ability to pay.
11:49And there was a moment when President Obama was elected that the plan was that they would become
11:55a nationwide network of primary care providers that integrated behavioral health, dental,
12:02and primary care, chronic disease management. And for a little while, we thought we were actually
12:08going to get a system that took care of people regardless of their ability to pay. Well, as you
12:14know, that didn't happen. Because, and are we surprised, insurance companies didn't see that that
12:21was a model that was going to work for them. Hospitals didn't see that that was a model that was
12:26going to
12:26work for them. And so the lobbyists came out of the woodwork. And unfortunately, too many members of
12:32the Democratic Party, despite the fact that we had a Democratic president, a Democratic Senate,
12:38and a Democratic House folded. And we ended up with a weak stew called Obamacare.
12:46Now, we are at another tipping point. We have another opportunity. There is growing awareness that
12:52the system that felt broken then is completely crumbling now. We are at a moment where the energy
12:59to make a real change is here and present. But it will take people elected across the country
13:06that will hold firm despite lobbyists, despite money, despite equity hedge funds. And here in Maine,
13:15that choice is very clear. Graham Plattner has from the beginning advocated for Medicare for All.
13:23He has, from the beginning, talked about his experience with the VA system, which provides
13:29primary care, behavioral health, mental health care, dental, all of the things that we need to
13:35maintain our health and what that means for him and his ability to start a small business.
13:40We need to elect Graham Plattner to the U.S. Senate so that we have somebody who arrives in Washington
13:47prepared for the fight, who we know will not fold. And it was with that, I am so pleased to
13:54introduce
13:54Graham Plattner to speak to all of you.
14:01Well, thank you all. And thanks for the introductions. Thanks, everybody,
14:05being here. It's a hot day to be standing outside. So I very much appreciate it.
14:11We are here today because Maine faces a rural hospital crisis. It's a crisis that has been
14:18building for quite some time. It is a crisis that is the outcome of a system that prioritizes profits
14:24over people. It is a system that has been built for decades through the policies of establishment
14:31politicians like Susan Collins, prioritizing health insurance companies, prioritizing pharmaceutical
14:38companies, prioritizing private equity over the needs of working Mainers across this state.
14:46Just over a year ago, Inland Light or Northern Light here at Inland closed. Hundreds of people lost
14:53their jobs. Thousands now have no close hospital. The nearest inpatient is in Augusta, and there is no
15:01public transportation connecting the two cities. Waterville Fire and Rescue has tripled its out-of-city
15:08ambulance transports. A ride that once cost $50 now costs over $400. And a ride that is longer means
15:17higher mortality rates. This isn't an anomaly. This is happening across Maine. Rural health care is not
15:27collapsing sometime in the future. This isn't some vague thing we talk about that may happen someday. It is
15:34happening now. But it is not an accident. No rural hospital closes by chance. It's the outcome of policy,
15:45and it is a choice that people in places of political power like Susan Collins have made. It is what
15:52happens
15:53when establishment politicians put health insurance companies, big pharma and private equity firms before
16:02the people they are supposed to represent. Collins hasn't just stood by while rural hospitals have
16:09closed. She has helped make more closures inevitable. Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of the one
16:17big beautiful bill. Now Collins loves to say that she didn't vote for this bill, but Mainers see through
16:25her charade. Her vote was pivotal to advancing it and paving the way for its eventual passage. She knew
16:34what she was doing. She was profiting off of her vote. She only voted to advance the bill out of
16:41committee
16:42one day after a private equity billionaire, Steve Schwartzman, the chair of the Blackstone Group,
16:49and a man who will personally reap huge profits from the bill, gave $2 million towards her reelection
16:57campaign. And while she still denies voting for the bill, she loves to brag about the rural healthcare
17:04transformation program, which is in the bill. She wants to take credit for something in it. She wants to
17:12take credit for the small amount of money it allocated against the huge amount of money the bill has
17:20sucked out of our rural healthcare system. She's trying to have it both ways. She wants to say she
17:26voted against it, but take credit for the one small part of it that is slightly helpful, except it isn't,
17:32because the whole bill itself slaughters the ability of rural healthcare to be provided to the people of
17:40Maine. The $3 billion in federal Medicaid funding that Maine is losing over the next decade pales in
17:49comparison to the small to the 190 million that comes in from the rural healthcare transformation program.
17:58Before the bill's passage, nearly half of Maine's rural hospitals were found to be at risk of closing,
18:04while some, like the one here today, had already shuttered. The one big beautiful bill is doing
18:11exactly what the experts warned it would do. It is throwing gasoline on a crisis that was already raging
18:19in Maine's rural hospitals. On top of that, Maine's hospitals have been forced to shut down
18:25many important services, especially labor and delivery units and OB services across the state,
18:31the state. And families have lost local birthing centers at an alarming rate.
18:37And it's not just healthcare. The one big beautiful bill will strip food assistance from over 100,000 Maine
18:46families, eliminate hundreds of jobs, shrink Maine's economy by millions of dollars, drive up energy bills by
18:54hundreds of dollars a year. And Collins, Collins wants to brag about the money she brings into Maine.
19:03She likes to brag about saying that she uses her power to bring money to Maine to help the state,
19:10except that the money she brings is a pittance. It is a pittance in comparison to the money sucked out
19:19of
19:19the state through tax cuts for corporations and billionaires that she happily goes along with.
19:24It is a pittance to the money sucked out of our system in the forever wars that we send trillions
19:32to year after year that she has always supported, a pittance towards the billions of dollars we continue
19:39to send to Israel to fund a genocide in Gaza, in a pittance to the millions and millions of dollars
19:46we
19:46send every year to agencies like ICE that want to step on our constitutional rights.
19:52Susan Collins has shown us who she is and who she votes for. What exists under Susan Collins is
20:00underfunded, deeply inadequate, and still leaves communities in health deserts with a lower level
20:07of service. There are no federal programs at the moment successfully reopening shuttered hospitals at
20:16scale. So while Collins is exacerbating our health care crisis by voting with Donald Trump 94% of the
20:24time, I will stand up against this administration's attacks on health care in this state. I will stand up
20:32against the health insurance companies and the corporations profiteering off of the need for
20:39working Americans to have health care. When we released my health care plan a few months ago,
20:45we want to increase reimbursement rates for Medicaid and Medicare. When I go all around the state of Maine
20:51and talk to rural hospital systems, it is an increase in those rates that will help them maintain their
20:58ability to provide care and expand it. Because right now, those reimbursement rates have not kept up with
21:06the cost of labor and the cost of services. For that reason, even before we decided to cut Medicaid,
21:15we were already staring down the barrel of a gun. We were staring down the barrel of a health care
21:22system
21:22in rural America that relies on federal subsidies through Medicare and Medicaid,
21:28but at the exact same time was not even making enough because the rates have been set for years
21:33and have not been revisited. We must increase those rates. I want to bring in federal investment into rural
21:41hospitals. Every rural hospital that is closed, the services that have gone away, we must bring in federal dollars to
21:49reopen
21:50those hospitals. We must bring in federal dollars to bring back those services. And I will fight tirelessly for Medicare
22:08for all.
22:10Because at the end of the day, rural health care in this country is not profitable.
22:16What this nation needs is a health care system that is actually built to provide health care.
22:23A health care system that harnesses the resources of our nation to allow every single American access
22:30to high quality health care like I get through my VA health care. Health care that gave me the freedom
22:38to move back to my hometown after my combat service and start a business.
22:44I often think, what would rural Maine look like? What would Eastern Maine look like if my hardworking,
22:51creative neighbors no longer had to think about co-pays, no longer had to think about premiums,
22:58no longer had to spend hours of their day battling with a health insurance company, refusing to pay for a
23:05service or a service or a procedure that your doctor says that you need? It's not just about the money.
23:11It's about the time. It's about what that kind of support will unleash here in the state of Maine.
23:20The entrepreneurship it will embolden, the risks it will allow people to take.
23:26That is what we have to fight for. So while Susan Collins votes to pass a budget that attacks the
23:33working class to benefit billionaires, I will fight for a budget that reflects the morality
23:39and the needs of working class Mainers, not Washington special interests. At the end of the day,
23:47it doesn't matter who you voted for when the hospital closed. When your community no longer has
23:54access to high quality health insurance, it doesn't matter if you identify as a Democrat or a Republican
24:01or an Independent. You have lost something that your community needs to survive. And you have lost it
24:08because establishment politicians like Susan Collins have for decades fought not for your community,
24:16have fought not for the needs of working Mainers, but have fought to protect the profits of health
24:22insurance companies, corporations and private equity. And that must come to an end. Thank you.
24:37All right, folks, we're going to have a brief Q&A. So if you have a question, please raise your
24:41hand. Julia.
24:49Hi, I'm Julia. I was just wondering about the rural health care fund, as well as we've talked a lot
25:03about Susan Collins,
25:04kind of whether the strategy is moderate. Do you think that you see evidence that Mainers are kind of
25:11catching on to the strategy that she has of acting like she's a moderate and then acting as though
25:18the rural health care fund is helping? Yeah. As I've been all over the state of Maine for the past
25:2410 months, I can tell you that the charade has worn thin. This idea that Susan Collins is a moderate,
25:30while she
25:30votes for Donald Trump's agenda at 95, 94% of the time, people see through that. The idea that she
25:38stands up for the needs of Mainers over that of corporations is really laid bare with something
25:43just like the rural health transformation program, 190 million dollars that she likes to brag about
25:50inside of a larger bill that strips $3 billion out of the state of Maine in health care through Medicaid
25:57cuts.
25:58The numbers don't lie. It's very obvious what she's doing. And I am seeing in every single corner of
26:04the state and hearing from not just Democrats, but independents and Republicans who fundamentally
26:09understand that Susan Collins is someone who for decades now has represented not their interests,
26:15but the interests of those who donate the most money to her. And they're sick and tired of it. And
26:24I
26:24bragging about the rural health care transformation program, her bragging about it while she also
26:31claims that she was against the bill that it was actually a part of is really the perfect encapsulation
26:36of her of her scheme. This is what she tries to do. She tries to trick us. But when you
26:43have such a
26:44difference between numbers of 190 million versus 3 billion, when you watch with your own eyes,
26:50the closure of rural hospitals over decades and decades of someone like her overseeing a system
26:56that is not prioritized keeping those hospitals open, but instead has prioritized corporate profits,
27:01people are beginning to see through. And I think that's what's going to take us into victory in November.
27:05Thank you. Next question. Nathan.
27:11Dropside news. Do you mind if I follow that? By all means, they are.
27:18So Susan Collins owns stock in United Health Group, which is one of this country's largest
27:23private insurers. Right now, her stake is up 850 percent, largely due by the Medicaid cuts that were in
27:31the big, beautiful bill that she voted to pass. How do we make that illegal? Do we think that
27:37our Congress people should be owning stocks when their votes can influence the valuation of the
27:43companies they own shares? I think that really lays bare the legalized corruption of our current
27:49system. The fact that it should simply be against the law for Congress people and senators to own
27:58stocks and bonds and to trade them while they are in office. That is, I mean, and that is a
28:05bipartisan
28:05issue. I hear about that from absolutely everyone on every single side of the political aisle.
28:11The fact that someone in a place of immense power can invest in, may I say, an organization like United
28:19Health Group, which profits off of the immiseration of working people in this country by using their need
28:27for healthcare as a method of profit seeking. Someone could invest in that. Someone can then
28:34help pass legislation that increases that private health insurance company's profits. And that is
28:40legal? I'm sorry. I think on its face, everybody understands that that is simply legalized corruption
28:47and it must come to an end. One more question. So she owns the shares through her spouse, Thomas
28:52and her staff friend. So how do we close loopholes to make sure that even if Collins herself doesn't
28:57own stocks, she still profits through her household? How do we make sure that these laws extend past the
29:03Congress people themselves? Well, last week we announced our anti-corruption platform and I believe
29:09very much that households should not be able to profit off of someone's place in using the public trust to
29:17build private affluence. And so what we put forward last week, it doesn't just ban the senator themselves,
29:24it doesn't just ban a congressperson, it bans their spouses as well. I mean, someone having access to
29:28that knowledge through a spouse is essentially the exact same as the as the member themselves having
29:35access to that knowledge in trading. And I think that's a that's a pretty, I think, easy, it's an easy
29:40sell for the American people. Just really a small thing because you answered everything I was going
29:51to ask you in your remarks. But what's your source for the $3 billion? And when you talk about
29:55reimbursements rates, which Northern Lights cited for closing this, one of the reasons,
29:59is that also a state issue? Doesn't the state set reimbursement rates? The federal government,
30:04Medicare itself, helps set reimbursement rates. And that's been we need to increase those reimbursements.
30:09When it comes to Medicaid, and like main care, yes, but also that money comes from the federal level.
30:16And more money into Medicaid, which would increase the pot of money for main care itself,
30:22would also allow for increased reimbursement rates. At the end of the day, much of this has to start at
30:27the federal level. And I fundamentally believe that that there is I have not heard, frankly, much in my
30:33lifetime, a loud public discussion at the federal level about increasing Medicare reimbursement rates,
30:41despite the fact that as I've gone around the state and visited healthcare facilities statewide,
30:46that is the number one thing I hear about. The number one reason that healthcare facilities cite
30:52for either letting go of workers, for dismantling certain systems and no longer to be able to give
30:59certain services, it always comes down to Medicare reimbursement rates. Because at the end of the day,
31:04rural healthcare is already not profitable. We had already propped it up with government subsidies
31:09through Medicare. And we need to increase those rates so it can keep up with the cost of labor,
31:15the cost of services, the cost of keeping institutions. All of this costs money. And I
31:20think every American sees every single day that our costs continue to increase. And as those costs
31:26increase, the funding that goes in to support these things also needs to increase.
31:30Thank you, Phil.
31:31Okay.
31:31I'll have you next question.
31:33Thank you so much.
31:33I want to talk about the $100.
31:34It's okay. No, no, I was just going to make a comment.
31:37Oh, I want to talk about the $190.
31:39I mean, again, if she gets that money, she doesn't want to find money.
31:55Here's the thing. I will just, I'm going to, what she didn't use her power for was to stop
32:00the big, beautiful bill. I mean, if she supposedly has this immense amount of power on appropriations,
32:06why did she not use it to keep billions from getting stripped out of the state of man?
32:12Why? I mean, like to me, this is, and this is what she does. She will not do anything with
32:18her power to deal with any structural problems. And then she will come back to us all and say,
32:22oh, but I'm so powerful. I got a pittance in comparison to what's being taken out of the state,
32:27because I refuse to tackle corporate profits. I refuse to tackle health insurance companies.
32:32She refuses to go after private equity. So that is not using one's power. That is holding on to one's
32:40power to make sure that the people she wants to benefit truly do benefit. And then trying to
32:44throw us some crumbs in the side to trick us into thinking she's standing up for us. And I just
32:48don't
32:48buy it. And I don't think the people of Maine do either.
32:50So that second vote where she eventually says, no, I am not voting for Maine.
32:54That's because it was already going to pass.
32:58She can count.
32:59I mean, like, yes, the, the, she, I refuse to believe that Susan Collins does not actually
33:05know how to use her power and that she can't count. I think she can do those things. And
33:11that is why Susan Collins will always be there to vote in a way that lets her portray herself as
33:18a
33:18moderate, but only when it doesn't matter. In the words of Barbara Boxer and Harry Reid,
33:23Susan Collins will always be there when you don't need her.
33:26That remains to be the case all these years later. And to me, what she, she did not slow
33:34up the bill at all. She had the ability in committee to have a much deeper discussion,
33:38a much more public discussion about what the Medicaid cuts were going to do to a state like
33:42Maine. Did she do it? No, she did not. She let it all. And she voted to move it through
33:47committee.
33:48She allowed it to come to the floor and then had the audacity to vote against it and claim that
33:53she
33:53was against it, even though she knew it was going to pass, which again, is standard Susan Collins activity.
34:15Yes, absolutely. Especially because she claims to have an immense amount of power on appropriations.
34:20She wants to use that power to protect the people of Maine. Why did she not use it? So, yes,
34:25I believe
34:26that, especially if you're as powerful as the chair, not using that role in an effective manner
34:33and then having, frankly, the gall afterwards to claim that because you voted against it on the
34:38floor when you knew it was already going to pass, we can see right through that. And yes,
34:42I do think she needs to be held to a higher standard, especially because she has a
34:46higher amount of power that she loves to brag about all of the time.
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