Sen. Collins touts bipartisan record

BANGOR – When time came Monday morning to talk about the specifics of America’s policies overseas, Sen. Susan Collins started off on an issue she has mentioned before and is likely to mention again in the months leading up to the Senate election this fall: bipartisanship.

The Republican incumbent cited her work in 2004 on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee with Sen. Joe Lieberman, a former Democrat who became an independent in 2006, as an example of how bipartisanship can get things done. She and Lieberman, the committee’s ranking minority member, had set about to implement reform recommended by the bipartisan Sept. 11 Commission.

“This [resulting] legislation brought about the most sweeping changes in our intelligence community in more than 50 years,” Collins told approximately 65 people who gathered Monday morning at Bangor Public Library for the Bangor Foreign Policy Forum. “I strongly believe we need more of that approach in Washington.”

During the event Collins did not refer to her main political rival, U.S. Rep. Tom Allen, nor did she allude to the fact that she is in a re-election campaign this year. The most direct reference she made to any sort of political opposition was when she said she is against any plan for Iraq that would establish a deadline for withdrawing American troops.

Allen, a strong critic of the war, opposes funding the conflict in Iraq without establishing a withdrawal deadline, according to his official campaign Web site.

“I do not agree with those who say that we should pack up and leave tomorrow,” Collins said. “I have yet to meet a military expert who believes that it is responsible to cut off funding for our troops.”

The Allen campaign declined Monday to comment on Collins’ remarks. The 1st District Democrat spoke at the same forum last month.

Collins said she also opposes President Bush’s current policies in Iraq, which have had mixed results and have resulted in “very slow” progress. She and Sen. Ben Nelson, a Democrat from Nebraska, have come up with a proposal to redefine the role of the American military in Iraq so that it would concentrate on anti-terrorism efforts, border security, and training Iraqi forces, which would allow for a reduction in troops, she said. And the Iraqis, with their vast oil reserves and increasing revenues, should do more to assume the cost of the war.

As far as American policy to neighboring Iran, the U.S. should do what it can to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, according to Collins, without taking military action.

“The answer lies in strong sanctions and in the international community working together,” she said.

In discussing foreign policy, Collins also touched upon energy issues. She said she hopes America can rid itself of its dependence on foreign oil for its energy needs by 2020. She said she also:

. Agrees with Bush’s recent belated decision to stop filling the nation’s strategic oil reserve, which is 97 percent full.

. Thinks Congress should look into the influence oil market speculators have had on the price of oil; and

. Supports shifting tax breaks for oil companies to consumers and alternative energy research and development efforts.

Worldwide food supplies, Collins said, are being affected by energy policies that encourage farmers to grow corn for ethanol rather than food crops. Food costs for families and producers in Maine have gone up drastically in the past six months, largely because of corn-ethanol subsidies. Alternative fuel programs that use other biofuels such as waste wood, rather than food supplies, are what should be pursued, she said.

“We have to be careful how we proceed toward energy independence,” Collins said.

In answering a few written questions after her speech, Collins said she supports easing travel restrictions to Cuba and granting official legal status to each detainee in the war on terror.

btrotter@bangordailynews.net

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