Sen. Susan Collins has said fixing the Affordable Care Act should come before any tax reform bill is passed by Congress. (AP file photo)

Maine’s U.S. Sen. Susan Collins is facing rising pressure to oppose a federal tax reform bill that is wending its way through Congress.

The National Democratic Committee will be targeting Collins, a Republican, in automated phone call to Mainers this week urging her to vote against the reform package, which they say is little more than a give-a-way for the wealthiest Americans.

“Republicans are trying to pass a disastrous tax plan that will raise the taxes of middle-class Americans and millions of hard-working families and drastically cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and education funding,” DNC Chairman Tom Perez, the former U.S. Labor Secretary for former President Barack Obama, says in a pre-recorded message urging Mainers to call Collins’ Washington, D.C. offices in protest to the plan. The DNC will also launch a series of digital ads targeting Collins.

The robocall is scheduled to start on Tuesday and continue throughout the week, as is a new television ad being launched in Maine by Save My Care, a national political action group that focuses on protecting Medicaid funding.

“You’ve been a hero for Maine and the country, but what you stood for could be lost,” the television spot states. “Sen. Collins we need your leadership.” The ad also urges viewers to call Collins’ office.

Tax reform is a key goal of President Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress, which has been unable to produce on any of Trump’s campaign promises, including a repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act.

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Collins, who is home in Maine for the Thanksgiving holiday, was in Waterville at a Colby College event on Monday.

She appeared on several Sunday television talk shows, detailed her concerns with the Republican tax reform package and outlined specific changes she wants in the bill if Republicans want to her vote – including no federal income tax cuts for those earning more than $1 million a year.

Collins also said cutting corporate taxes from a top marginal rate of 35 percent to 20 percent is not appropriate for all businesses, although she expressed support for cutting income taxes for small businesses.

Still, Collins stopped short of saying she wouldn’t vote for the bill as it is currently written, when asked by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, saying she hadn’t reached that conclusion yet.

Collins also went on to detail parts of the bill she supports, including doubling the child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000.

“There’s also a doubling of the standard deduction, which means that a family making $24,000 would not pay any income tax,” Collins said. She also pointed to two other bills in the Senate that she said would help lower health care insurance premiums, including one she has co-sponsored with Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, that would create high-risk insurance pools aimed at insulating premiums.

Collins also voiced support for provisions in the Republican reforms that would strip the tax penalty applied under the Affordable Care Act against those who refuse to purchase health insurance coverage. But she said fixing the ACA should come before any tax reform bill is passed by Congress.

“The fact is that those fines are paid by – overwhelmingly by people who make less than $50,000 a year, 80 percent of the people who pay the fines fall in that category,” Collins said. “But I’m worried about the impact on premiums. And that’s why we’re going to need to pass legislation. And I would like to see that done before we go to the tax bill.”

This story will be updated.


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