Susan Collins

President Donald Trump (R) meets with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney (L) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, October 7, 2025. On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate passed legislation seeking to terminate Trump’s tariffs on Canada. File Photo by Shawn Thew/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 29 (UPI) — The U.S. Senate has passed legislation terminating the national emergency declared by President Donald Trump to impose tariffs on Canada, a day after it terminated the United States’ tariffs on Brazil.

Republicans Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul, also of Kentucky, joined their Democratic colleagues in a 50-46 vote to pass S.J. Res. 77 on Wednesday evening.

“Tonight, the Senate came together and sent President Trump a clear, bipartisan message: he cannot continue to abuse his power and unilaterally wage a trade war against one of our strongest allies,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said in a statement.

“We cannot afford to keep raising costs, hurting businesses and eliminating jobs by attacking our neighbor and ally.”

The move is mostly symbolic as it is not expected to be taken up by the Republican-controlled House.

Tariffs have been a central mechanism in Trump’s trade and foreign policy, using them to right what he sees as improper trade relations as well as to penalize nations he feels are doing him and the United States wrong.

In February, Trump announced 25% tariffs on Canadian imports under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, attracting retaliatory tariffs from Ottawa.

Then, in August, Trump raised tariffs on Canada to 35%.

Over the weekend, Trump announced a further 10% tariff on Canada over anti-tariff aired by Ontario’s provincial government.

The legislation passed Wednesday seeks to cancel the declared emergency, under which the tariffs were imposed.

“In order to strengthen our weakening economy, we need stability and strong relationships around the world — not chaotic trade wars that raise prices, shut American businesses out of foreign markets and decrease tourism to the U.S.,” Kaine, who sponsored the bill, said in a statement.

Relations between Canada and the United States, the closest of allies, have greatly soured under the second Trump administration. From tariffs to comments about annexing Canada, Ottawa and its citizens have begun to turn away from the United States in distrust and frustration to strengthen trade and defensive relations with Europe.

On Tuesday, five Republicans joined the Democrats to pass a similar bill seeking to end Trump’s tariffs on Brazil.

Oct. 29 (UPI) — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday night passed legislation terminating the national emergency declaration to impose duties on Brazilian imports, dealing a blow to President Donald Trump‘s use of the punitive economic measures to penalize the South American country for prosecuting his ally, former President Jair Bolsonaro.

The Senate voted 52-48 in favor of S.J. Res. 18, with five Republicans — Sens. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul, also of Kentucky — joining their Democratic colleagues in ending the emergency and, consequently, the tariffs.

The bipartisan bill was introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Paul.

Speaking from the floor prior to the vote Tuesday, Paul criticized the tariffs as a tax being levied against the people of the United States — taxes, which fall under the purview of the House of Representatives, not that of the executive branch.

“The Senate is compelled to act because one person in our country wishes to raise taxes without the approval of the Senate, without the approval of the House, without the approval of the Constitution,” he said, referring to Trump.

“The idea that one person can raise taxes is contrary to our founding principles.”

Tariffs have been a central mechanism of Trump’s trade and foreign policy, using them to right what he sees as improper trade relations as well as to penalize nations he feels are doing him and the United States wrong.

Starting in April, Trump imposed a 10% baseline tariff on nearly every country under a national emergency declaration, the legality of which is being challenged in court. In late July, Trump imposed an additional 40% tariff on Brazil via an executive order under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Trump had threatened Brazil with tariffs over how Bolsonaro “has been treated.”

Bolsonaro was being prosecuted at the time the tariffs were imposed for attempting a coup following his 2022 election loss to current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. In September, he was sentenced to 27 years in prison.

In his floor speech Tuesday, Kaine asked what threat to the U.S. economy, national security or foreign policy did Brazil pose to the United States to necessitate the national emergency.

“We have a trade surplus with Brazil: $7 billion a year in goods, $23 billion a year in services,” he said. “This president has said their prosecution of a disgraced politician is a national emergency for the United States? How could that be? Mr. President, if this is a national emergency, any president of any party could say that anything is a national emergency for the United States.”

Oct. 17 (UPI) — The federal shutdown will last at least a few more days as the Senate expects to hold no votes until Monday. Meanwhile, lawmakers are questioning the legality of how the Trump administration plans to pay the military.

Senate Republican leader John Thune of South Dakota sent senators home for the weekend, so the government will stay closed. The Senate will return at 3 p.m. Monday.

Three Democrats have voted for the Republican bills to reopen the government, but five more are needed to reach the 60 votes needed to pass the stopgap funding bill.

Meanwhile, some Republican senators are questioning the legality of President Donald Trump‘s move to shift Defense Department funds to pay for military paychecks during the shutdown.

They say they’re glad the service members are getting paid, but aren’t sure where the funds are coming from and whether the money shift is legal.

Normally, the White House would need to ask Congress to reappropriate federal funding, then the Appropriations Committee must approve it before moving funds around.

Senators interviewed by The Hill say they aren’t aware of any requests. Trump ordered Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to use “all available funds” to ensure troops got their paychecks.

“That’s a concern of not just appropriators, it seems broader than that,” an unnamed Republican senator told The Hill.

The lawmaker said Republican colleagues have asked the administration for more information about exactly which funds are getting shifted and what legal authority the White House is using to justify its action.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she wants more information from the White House.

“We’ve been given two different explanations. One, is that it’s unobligated balances. One, is that it’s taken from certain research and technology programs. But we don’t have the specifics. We have asked for the specifics,” Collins said.

Alaska’s Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said: “I get that they say for the military pay for this pay period it comes out of … research and development technology [fund] but where? Is that taking it from projects that we have already identified? Maybe something’s really important to me. Where’s it coming from? We haven’t seen that,” she said.

On Wednesday, Trump signed a memo expanding his administration’s authority to repurpose unspent funds to pay service members during the shutdown.

Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., said Trump’s reallocation of funds was, “probably not legal.” On Face the Nation on Sunday, he said the “White House’s understanding of United States law” was “pretty tentative to say the best.”

July 17 (UPI) — The U.S. Senate early Thursday voted to rescind some $9 billion in federal funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting, two areas of the government that the Trump administration has long targeted for cuts.

The senators voted 51-48 mostly along party lines to approve House Bill 4 with Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joining the Democrats in voting against it.

The bill, which now goes to the House of Representatives, will cut about $8 billion from international aid programs and about $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The bill passed at about 2:20 a.m. EDT Thursday.

“President Trump promised to cut wasteful spending and root out misuse of taxpayer dollars,” Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said on X prior to the vote. “Now, @SenateGOP and I are voting to make these cuts permanent. Promises made, promises kept.”

The vote comes as the Trump administration faces criticism from Democrats, and some Republicans, for having promised to reduce government spending but then last month passed a massive tax and spending cuts bill that is expected to add $3.3 trillion to the U.S. deficit, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Meanwhile, the Cato Institute states it could add nearly double that, as much as $6 trillion.

The Corporation of Public Broadcasting, which funds local news and radio infrastructure, has been a target of the Trump administration for funding a small portion of the budgets of PBS and NPR, which he accuses of being biased.

Murkowski chastised her fellow Republicans for attacking a service that informed Alaskans that same day that there was a magnitude 7.3 earthquake and a tsunami warning.

“Some colleagues claim they are targeting ‘radical leftist organizations’ with these cuts, but in Alaska, these are simply organizations dedicated to their communities,” she said on social media. “Their response to today’s earthquake is a perfect example of the incredible public service these stations provide. They deliver local news, weather updates and, yes, emergency alerts that save human lives.”

WASHINGTON — By a single, tiebreaking vote, Senate Republicans on Tuesday approved President Trump’s signature legislation despite several GOP defections, a major step toward passage of a bill that would expand tax cuts while cutting healthcare access to millions.

Just 50 Republicans supported the legislation, forcing Vice President JD Vance to cast the tiebreaking vote.

GOP Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine joined all Democrats in the chamber in opposition to the bill.

The legislation, called the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” passed with the support of a key skeptic of its most controversial provisions: Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. The bill extends tax cuts and benefits first passed in 2017 under Trump that were set to expire later this year, while creating new eligibility requirements for Medicaid and food stamps.

The House of Representatives will now have a second vote on a reconciled version of the bill. Should it pass, it will go to the president’s desk for his signature.

June 28 (UPI) — Senate Democrats have failed in their attempt to curtail President Donald Trump‘s ability to use the military against Iran without congressional approval.

The vote Friday night was 53-47. Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky voted with Democrats to approve the resolution, and Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat to vote no in invoking the War Powers Act of 1973.

“If we are to ask our young men and women to fight, and potentially give their lives, then we in this body can at least muster the courage to debate if American military intervention is warranted,” Paul who has advocated for restrained foreign policy, said on the Senate floor before the vote.

“Abdicating our constitutional responsibility by allowing the executive branch to unilaterally introduce U.S. troops into wars is an affront to the Constitution, and the American people,” he said.

Fetterman, a staunch supporter of Israel, told reporters he voted against the resolution “simply because I would never want to restrict any future president, Republican or Democrat, to do this kind of military exercise.”

Days before Trump authorized B-2 stealth bombers to strike three Iranian nuclear sites last weekend, Sen. Tim Kaine had already introduced a resolution under the War Powers Act of 1973, which limits a president’s power to enter an armed conflict without the consent of Congress. Israel first struck Iran on June 13 in an effort to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.

Congress has not issued a formal declaration of war since World War II.

The War Powers Act was approved after President Richard Nixon expanded the Vietnam War into Cambodia. Congress sought Nixon’s power to continue expanding the war amid deep national displeasure about the war. Nixon vetoed the bill, which was overridden by a near unanimous vote of Congress.

In this new situation, the White House would need approval from the House and Senate before U.S. forces could use further military action against Iran.

“I think the events of this week have demonstrated that war is too big to be consigned to the decision of any one person,” Kaine said on the Senate floor. “War is too big an issue to leave to the moods and the whims and the daily vibes of any one person.”

In 2020, eight Republicans joined Democrats in preventing Trump from acting against Iran during his first term in the White House.

“I’ll be voting with Republicans against the war power resolution. When we’re talking about nuclear weapons, the president should have the discretion he needs to act,” Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who supported the 2020 resolution, posted Thursday X.

Susan Collins, a moderate from Maine, joined her Republican colleagues to vote against the bill.

“I continue to believe that Congress has an important responsibility to authorize the sustained use of military force. That is not the situation we are facing now. The President has the authority to defend our nation and our troops around the world against the threat of attack,” Collins wrote on X after the vote.

In the House, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky had also introduced a war powers resolution but decided not to press for a vote amid the cease-fire in the Iran-Israel conflict, which announced Monday as his supports hit out against Massie.

The Pro Trump PAC MAGA Kentucky released an ad titled “What Happened to Thomas Massie?” seeking his ouster from the House in 2026 after an interview about the resolution on Sunday morning.

June 28 (UPI) — Senate Republicans released their updated version of the massive spending bill late Friday, which still includes an extension of tax cuts mainly for wealthy people, and have scheduled the first vote to move it forward for Saturday.

The Senate conveyed for a special session at 2 p.m. for a key procedural vote, though it’s uncertain whether Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota has the necessary 50 votes for it to move forward, ABC, CBS and NPR reported.

Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate with all Democrats planning to oppose the legislation.

House and Senate leaders are committed to sending the bill to President Donald Trump on the Fourth of July. Trump has been pressuring Senators to send the bill to his desk for signing, including conducting an event Thursday that touted the advantages.

Thune hopes the Senate bill not only draws reluctant colleagues but conforms to what parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough approves. On Thursday, she rejected key aspects of changes with Medicaid, which is health insurance for low-income people.

NPR and Politico analyzed Senate changes in the 940-page bill.

Reconciliation allows bills to pass with a simple majority instead of 60 votes and all changes in the Senate bill need to be sent back to the House for approval. “The house is ready to act as soon as the Senate does,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday.

The legislation passed the House 215-214 on May 22. Two Republicans voted against the bill and one voted present.

In the reconciliation process, after time for up to 20 hours of debate has expired, Senators may continue to offer amendments, a process that could stretch into Sunday.

Each Senator was able to speak for 10 minutes on Saturday, freshman Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio as the first speaker.

“We are about to enter a historic moment in this chamber,” he said. “We’re going to take up a bill called the One Big Beautiful Bill. If you’ve been watching the media over the last maybe six months, you’ve heard all kinds of absolute misinformation about this bill. I’ve had a chance to read it. … It’s an absolute historic and transformative piece of legislation that reserves four years of an assault on American workers.”

He said “indisputable facts include interest deductibility of cars are built in the United States, no taxes on tips and overtime, income tax cuts on all payees and a government-funded savings account given to raise kids. And Medicare and Social Security is untouched with Medicaid improved with work requirements.

House Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York was the first Democrat to speak.

“Senate Republicans are trying to pull a fast one on the American people,” he said. “For weeks they’ve struggled with the reality that most people hate this bill. Leadership has struggled to secure votes among their own ranks who know how bad the bill is. And now they’ve scrambled to meet an entire arbitrary deadline.”

“So what did the Republicans do last night. Hard to believe, this bill is even worse than any draft we’ve seen this far. It’s worse on healthcare, it’s worse on SNAP, it’s worse on the deficit. At very last minute, Senate Republicans made their bill more extreme to cater to the radicals in the House and Senate,” he added.

He said the bill was released “without knowing how much it will cost,” including a Congressional Budget Office score. He said Republicans, who have sought to lower the deficit “have made it worse” and Americans will pay the price.

Senate bill changes

The new Senate version includes much of what the House approved, including increased funding for border security and extension of tax cuts passed in 2017 during Trump’s first term in the White House. The tax cuts reduced the corporate rate from 35% to a flat 21% and for high-income single filers of more than $400,000 to 37% from 39.6%, for example.

The tax cuts would total $4 trillion over ten years in the Senate bill compared with $3.8 trillion in the House.

Some Republican senators have joined Democrat colleagues in opposing changes to Medicaid.

“We’ve got a few things we’re waiting on, outcomes from the parliamentarian on, but if we could get some of those questions issues landed, and my expectation is at some point tomorrow, we’ll be ready to go,” Thune said Friday.

In Medicaid, a stabilization fund for rural hospitals over five years was boosted to $25 billion from $15 billion in the Senate bill. Some Republicans opposed big cuts to the health program.

Republicans Josh Hawley of Missouri and Susan Collins of Maine have warned rural hospitals could be forced to close.

Planned cuts to provider taxes that fund state obligations for Medicaid would be delayed by one year to 2028. The allowable provider tax in Medicaid expansion states would go from 6% to 3.5%. The new Senate bill increases the deduction from $10,000 to $40,000 but would revert to current levels after 2029.

Schumer said on the Senate floor that when he learned the CBO said the Medicaid cuts are worse than previous versions, he fears that “Medicaid will be fed to the sharks.”

In the Senate’s version of the bill, the debt limit would be increased by $5 trillion, instead of the $4 trillion voted for by the House. Currently, the U.S. debt stands at $36.22 trillion, according to the U.S. Treasury.

Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, opposed boosting the debt limit. Republicans can spare only three oppositions.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has determined the House version of the bill would add roughly $2.4 trillion to the debt over 10 years. The $5.3 trillion of tax cuts and increases to spending the House approved would be partially offset by $2.9 trillion of revenue increases and spending cuts.

The new Senate bill raises the per-child tax credit from $2,000 to $2,200. Also, the Senate would permanently expand the standard deduction instead of only through 2028 in the House version. What remains is the deduction phasing out for people earning more than $75,000.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, referred to as SNAP and formerly known as food stamps, provides food for more than 40 million low-income U.S. residents, remains in both versions. But the Senate legislation adds work requirements for “able-bodied adults” up to age 64 with some exemptions.

Alaska and Hawaii may be temporarily exempted from paying for some costs. Alaska’s two Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, want an exception for their state.

GOP senators also changed the state and local tax deduction, or SALT, which has been backed by House members in states dominated by Democratic voters.