Republican senators are privately complaining their party isn’t advancing legislation that helps ordinary voters ahead of the crucial midterm elections, according to a new report.
Endangered incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) told colleagues at a closed-door GOP meeting Tuesday that the Senate should take up bills that “actually help regular Americans,” Punchbowl News reported.
And she wasn’t the only Republican sounding the alarm.
One unnamed GOP senator on the ballot accused the White House of “putting a noose around all of our necks” by escalating its trade war with Canada so close to the election, the outlet said Wednesday.
Collins also warned that Trump’s tariffs are hurting people and businesses in Maine.
According to Punchbowl News, Collins said she is “concerned about the fact that it hurts families, small businesses and large manufacturers in the state of Maine, and farmers.” She is seeking exemptions from the Canadian tariffs to soften the blow.
Trump’s trade war is drawing backlash from other Republicans who fear voters will blame them for the economic pain, particularly in border and farming states.
Former Sen. John Sununu (R-NH), who is running again, said it “doesn’t make any sense to engage in a trade war with Canada.”
The fallout is also reaching Kansas, where Trump’s threats to block U.S. sales of Bombardier aircraft “have caused unnecessary headaches,” Punchbowl News reported.
“We are a state that exports. That’s what we do for a living… and Canada is an important component of that,” Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) told the outlet. “We don’t want to rock that boat.”
Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) plans to increase the pressure by seeking to pass legislation blocking Trump’s latest tariffs.
News: SUSAN COLLINS bemoaned at Senate R lunch Tuesday that they aren’t taking up bills that help regular Americans before midterms On Trump’s trade wars, a GOP senator on the ballot this yr told me the WH is “putting a noose around all of our necks”
https://t.co/ZwBWLURPuA — Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) September 16, 2026
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