I’m writing to thank Sen. Susan Collins for her “No” vote on the recent reconciliation bill, which will cut SNAP benefits by nearly $300 billion and affect tens of thousands of working families and children in Maine.

The bill also guts access to reproductive health care by excluding organizations like Planned Parenthood and Maine Family Planning from receiving Medicaid payments, and decimates the clean energy industry. With increasingly frequent extreme weather events, energy costs have skyrocketed and provisions in the bill will just make that worse.

While the bill passed, I’m grateful that Sen. Collins stood up as one of the few Republican senators against it.

Tara Sangal
Portland