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Maine

Maine U.S. Senate

Susan Collins (R)

P.O. Box 1096
Bangor, ME 04402

Visit Candidate's Website
(207) 775-0175
campaign@susancollins.com

BIOGRAPHY

Susan Collins was elected to the Senate in 1996 and was reelected in 2002. Collins is Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Committee, and a member of the Armed Services and Special Aging Committees. She has built a reputation for her bipartisan approach and has never missed a vote.

Q1: While the U.S. has made improvements in the number of children who have health insurance, many children remain uninsured. In addition, federal funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) will expire unless the program is reauthorized by March 2009. What priority do you place on SCHIP reauthorization? What can be done, if anything, to increase the number of children who have access to health insurance?

One of the first bills that I sponsored when I came to the Senate was legislation to establish SCHIP. I was a strong supporter of the SCHIP bill that Congress passed last year, which would have maintained coverage for 6.6 million children currently enrolled and expanded coverage to an additional 3.3 million children, including an additional 11,000 in Maine. The President's veto of this bill was a terrible mistake, and I will encourage Senate Leadership...

Q2: While the federal government has supported many initiatives to improve health care quality, these efforts often focus on adults and Medicare recipients. What steps, if any, would you support to enhance the quality of children's health care?

First, we should expand SCHIP so that we can extend health coverage to millions more American children. I also support increased investment in health information technologies like e-prescribing and electronic medical records, which will help to reduce medical errors and improve health care quality for children as well as adults. In addition, I support increased funding for biomedical and clinical effectiveness research specific to children, so that we can develop better treatments and potentially even...

Q3: Senator Menendez introduced S. 3277, the "Children's Budget Act," which would add a requirement to future federal budgets to list the different sources of federal funding for children's programs, thereby illustrating how the federal government prioritizes and allocates resources affecting children. What importance, if any, do you place on creating a Children's Budget and why?

I am a strong advocate for increased federal funding for programs that benefit our nation's children. Having all federally-funded children's programs separately displayed and analyzed in the President's budget would provide policy makers and tax payers with a clearer picture of the overall federal investment in children and would highlight the funding shortfalls that many programs benefiting children have experienced.

Q4: Health care reform may be a big topic for Congressional debate in 2009. What initiatives, if any, would you proactively support? How do you see children's healthcare fitting into this larger debate?

I have introduced the bipartisan Access to Affordable Health Care Act, which builds on our public programs and private health system to make quality care more available and affordable for all Americans. Since 63 percent of uninsured workers are employed by small firms, our legislation creates new tax credits for small businesses to encourage them to provide insurance for employees and their families. It also provides advanceable, refundable tax credits to make coverage more affordable...

Q5: Today, many American families are comprised of either a working single parent or two working parents who need to use child care services in order to work - which can be a significant financial burden for those trying to make ends meet. What, if anything, can be done to make it easier for working families to obtain child care assistance?

Millions of working parents struggle to find affordable, high quality child care. The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) enables 1.8 million children to receive child care. Because appropriations for the CCDBG have been essentially flat since 2002, many states have tightened eligibility requirements for child care, increased parents' co-payments, and cut back reimbursement rates to already low-paid caregivers. Ever year, I urge the Appropriations Committee to increase funding for this vital program.

Q6: Three million incidences of child abuse are reported in the U.S. each year, with millions of additional cases going unreported. What, if anything, can be done to prevent abuse, neglect, and violence toward children?

Congress must work to identify and address issues of child abuse and neglect, and to support effective methods of prevention and treatment. I am a co-sponsor of the Combating Child Exploitation Act, a critical piece of legislation aimed at bolstering federal resources to combat online child exploitation. By increasing funding for Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act programs, Congress can assist communities in stemming child abuse and ensuring that affected children receive proper treatment.

Q7: According to recent figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, the economic cycle spanning from 2000 to 2007 was one of the weakest on record for working families: median incomes fell for working-age households and the overall poverty rate increased from 11.3 percent to 12.5 percent. What, if anything, will you do to help families adequately provide for their children's needs while remaining or working toward economic self-sufficiency?

I am a long-time supporter of the child tax credit. The tax relief I voted for in 2001 and 2003 doubled the child tax credit to $1,000, and I support making the credit permanent at that level. Unfortunately, the child tax credit is scheduled to fall back to $500 in 2011. 125,000 Mainers and their families benefit from the increase in the child tax credit to $1,000. I also support legislation offered by Senators Lincoln...

Q8: Given that children's school days are often considerably shorter than adults' full-time workdays, parents must work to find appropriate after-school arrangements for their children. What, if anything, can be done to help ensure that children are safe and supervised during afternoon and early evening hours?

As the lead Republican cosponsor of the Investment in Afterschool Programs Act, I understand the importance of supporting these critical programs. Congress must provide adequate funding to support afterschool programs so that parents have access to a safe and enriching environment for their children after the school bell rings. I am also a founding member of the Afterschool Caucus, where I worked with my colleagues to secure a $100 million increase in federal afterschool funding...

Respond to Candidate

Tom Allen (D)

550 Forest Avenue
Suite 101
Portland, ME 04101

Visit Candidate's Website
(207) 774-9696
info@tomallen.org

BIOGRAPHY

I view myself as a leader in the mold of a Maine public servant. My dedication to family, hard work and loyalty to the state has set me apart in Congress. My capacity for leadership has been demonstrated through my lifetime of service to Maine and my family.

Q1: While the U.S. has made improvements in the number of children who have health insurance, many children remain uninsured. In addition, federal funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) will expire unless the program is reauthorized by March 2009. What priority do you place on SCHIP reauthorization? What can be done, if anything, to increase the number of children who have access to health insurance?

In my view, there is no greater health care priority in Congress than the reauthorization of SCHIP. The debate that has taken place in America about health care reform will undoubtedly continue, but a point where we can agree right now is that we must cover all children in Maine and America with health insurance. We can do that through not only reauthorizing SCHIP, but also expanding it to even more working families.

Q2: While the federal government has supported many initiatives to improve health care quality, these efforts often focus on adults and Medicare recipients. What steps, if any, would you support to enhance the quality of children's health care?

Certainly access to health care is essential, but quality is also an issue. I think Congress needs to promote preventive care for children, because of the significant impact of conditions like childhood obesity have on children as they grow older. We also need to drastically improve technology in health care in order to reduce the harm done by medical errors, and especially when caring for children. I have advocated for these improvements in Congress.

Q3: Senator Menendez introduced S. 3277, the "Children's Budget Act," which would add a requirement to future federal budgets to list the different sources of federal funding for children's programs, thereby illustrating how the federal government prioritizes and allocates resources affecting children. What importance, if any, do you place on creating a Children's Budget and why?

It would be helpful to know exactly how the Federal government prioritizes children's programs, and I'm sure the results would be shocking to many Americans. Studies have shown that the most effective dollar the Federal government can invest is in children under six. The benefits that individual families and society reap from ensuring children have health care and quality education are enormous, and those benefits are largely unrealized due to inaction by Congress.

Q4: Health care reform may be a big topic for Congressional debate in 2009. What initiatives, if any, would you proactively support? How do you see children's healthcare fitting into this larger debate?

I am the only US Senate candidate in the country with a universal health care plan. Achieving universal health care is essential to Maine’s physical and economic health. This is no longer time for more hearings, general "goals" and Congressional talk about the issue. We know what the problems are and the proposed solutions. We need bold action. My plan includes expanding SCHIP, which has been so essential to covering more children in America.

Q5: Today, many American families are comprised of either a working single parent or two working parents who need to use child care services in order to work - which can be a significant financial burden for those trying to make ends meet. What, if anything, can be done to make it easier for working families to obtain child care assistance?

Ensuring parents have access to quality childcare programs is an integral part of the policies I support. I've proposed offering federal grants to states that want to create child care rating systems, expanding the dependant care tax credit, and increasing funding for the child care development block grant program. Attention to these issues has been lacking in the current Congress, and Maine needs someone in the Senate who will fight for them.

Q6: Three million incidences of child abuse are reported in the U.S. each year, with millions of additional cases going unreported. What, if anything, can be done to prevent abuse, neglect, and violence toward children?

Congressional budget priorities have been amiss over much of the last eight years. Congress has neglected problems at home like public safety, while sending more money overseas. Cuts in programs like COPS grants and Byrne grants have hurt states' ability to combat crimes against children, and it has stretched all parts of the criminal justice to a breaking point. I will fight to restore Congress’s commitment to fighting crimes against children.

Q7: According to recent figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, the economic cycle spanning from 2000 to 2007 was one of the weakest on record for working families: median incomes fell for working-age households and the overall poverty rate increased from 11.3 percent to 12.5 percent. What, if anything, will you do to help families adequately provide for their children's needs while remaining or working toward economic self-sufficiency?

I believe that poverty rates in the United States are simply unacceptable. Between 2006 and 2007 the poverty rate for children under 18 rose to 18%. To help deal with this problem, I have proposed increasing the child tax credit for the first year it is claimed, which doubles the existing credit from $1,000 to $2,000, and have voted 16 times to lift the minimum wage to a more livable one.

Q8: Given that children's school days are often considerably shorter than adults' full-time workdays, parents must work to find appropriate after-school arrangements for their children. What, if anything, can be done to help ensure that children are safe and supervised during afternoon and early evening hours?

Studies show that there is a pressing need for afterschool and expanded learning programs in rural areas. Students involved in afterschool programs improve their test scores and regular school attendance compared to non-participants. My plan fully funds the 21st Community Learning Center program, which increases afterschool participation. This program would enable more school-community partnerships across the country and provide more young people with expanded learning opportunities, many of them in rural communities.