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N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 5 2 9 FromtoppetesouzaWhitehousecourtesysusancollins 2Susan Collins U.S. Senator Caribou O n September 17 Sen. Susan Collins cast her 6000th consecutive vote in Washington18 years without ever missing a roll call. While not all of the votes were easy and at times crossed party lines Collins votes her conscience. Do you miss Olympia Can you give us an example of How I wish she were here right now. I very much like working with Senator An- gus King but of course I miss Olympia. I miss her most when were in the midst of a vigorous debate in the Republican caucus and I wish there was another strong cen- trist woman who can speak up and under- score the point I make. Will you feel any of the fallout good or bad from House Speaker Boehners retirement My concern about the Speakers retire- ment is that it will slow negotiations on the budget. This is a critical time of the year for those negotiations. To have such cha- os in who is going to be the leader of the Republicans will make those negotiations go more slowly and its absolutely critical that we reach an agreement to avoid shut- ting down the government or defaulting on the debt. I am also concerned because of the disruptive nature in the leadership elections and how it highlights what sep- arates us rather than what unites us and thats not good for the country. What did you think of Rep. Kevin McCarthy stepping out of the race I was extremely surprised. I had seen him just a few days before and he was looking forward to serving and confident he would be elected. It certainly came as a huge sur- prise to all of us on the Senate side. What was it like to be the first Republican senator to be re-elected after supporting same-sex marriage In Maine same-sex marriage had been passed by referendum and it had become increasingly accepted. It wasnt as much of a factor in my race as you might think. Id gone to a wedding of dear friends of mine before my election and was actually a reader in their wedding. Theyd been together for 23 years and I saw the extraordinary hap- piness on both their faces and the support theyd received from friends and family. I was delighted to participate in that wedding. What is the most difficult vote youve ever made away from the party line Can you take us closer to that decision That would be to repeal Dont Ask Dont Tell. Five years later in 2015 that looks like a no-brainer an easy vote. But back in 2010 there was not at all a consensus for that. And indeed when I was serving on the Armed Services Committee at the time I was the only Republican on the committee to vote during the committee mark up and to speak in favor of repealing Dont Ask Dont Tell. There were members of the committee who had served in the military and they were very angry at me because of my vote. I felt that it was the right thing to do but I was clearly a minority. Im very proud to have in- troduced the bill with Joe Lieberman that fi- nally became law and ended that discrimi- nation. To me we should be expressing our gratitude to people who are willing to serve in our military regardless of their sexual ori- entation not trying to drum them out be- cause they are gay or lesbian. But five years ago there was a lot of opposition. I had to work extremely hard to get the other eight votes that allowed us to overcome a filibus- ter and pass the law to repeal Dont Ask Dont Tell. At the time for example the Commandant of the Marine Corps testified very strongly against the repeal. There were military leaders for the repeal and leaders very much against it. Bath Iron Workswhat shipbuilding program do you hope theyll land next and how can they do it The next program I hope BIW will be suc- cessful bidding on is for a series of Coast Guard cutters. These would be essential for replacing the old worn-out cutters in the fleet. The advantage of this work is that it would help fit very nicely into the work that BIW already does for the Navy and it would help fill in some of the gaps between build- ing naval ships and keep a more consistent IntervIew by OlIvIa Gunn SenatorBarbaraMikulskyhas taughtmesomuchabouthow tobeaneffectivesenator. She got to the church on time too. At ease with husband Thomas Daffron whom she married in 2012 and at work above on a visit to the White House.