👓 Here's the debt ceiling status through a Maine lens.
◉ Another meeting between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-California, ended with no spending deal as the June deadline for an unprecedented default on the national debt closes in. The contours of a debt ceiling deal have seemed to show themselves throughout the talks, but neither side has agreed to drop some of their hard lines so far.
◉ House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, said he would be willing to support a spending freeze at 2023 levels on Monday, according to The Hill. But McCarthy has rejected that, sticking to a Republican plan to freeze spending at 2022 levels.
◉ A plan that has been floated for weeks by Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from Maine's 2nd District, would hit the middle ground on this issue, taking 2022 spending levels and adjusting them for inflation. The centrist also targeted a list of spending cuts and tax increases aimed at reducing the deficit.
◉ "Right now the two major players are President Biden and House Speaker McCarthy," Sen. Susan Collins, a top Republican appropriator, said in Caribou on Monday when asked about the Senate's potential role in helping to solve the standoff. "The House has passed a bill, so we know where they stand."
🇺🇸 Collins says it's too early to say whether she'll endorse for president.
◉ The Maine senator stepped out no further on presidential politics the same day as Sen. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, announced what looks like a longshot campaign for the White House. Collins brought Scott to Waterville to campaign with her in a 2020 race against Democrat Sara Gideon.
◉ Since last year, she has responded to questions on the subject by citing a shortlist of candidates she would prefer to former President Donald Trump. On Monday, the list included Scott, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. But none of them are really registering in polls alongside Trump, and Collins said it's too early to tell whether she will endorse in the primary.
◉ "It's an unusual situation for me to know so many candidates personally, and I think highly of each of them," she said. "Any one of them, I believe, would be a better candidate than Trump."
⚫ Funeral services are announced for a legendary Maine media member.
◉ Visiting hours for Mal Leary, the longtime dean of the State House press corps who died Saturday at age 72, will be on Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Plummer Funeral Home on Pleasant Street in Augusta.
◉ His funeral will be held there on Friday at 11 a.m. Read his BDN obituary. |
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