Collins 'increasingly convinced' Dems, White House disinterested in compromise
As the COVID-19 relief debate moves forward in the Senate, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Monday night that she is "increasingly convinced" there won't be a compromise on a relief bill.
"I'm becoming increasingly convinced that, regrettably, there is not as much interest as that I would like to see on the Democratic side of the aisle and the White House in trying to come to a compromise," Collins said. "And I don't understand how the White House can describe a bill that passed the House without a single Republican vote as being bipartisan -- what was bipartisan was the opposition to the bill."
Collins was part of a bipartisan group that helped move the last COVID-19 relief bill through the Senate. But now, Collins said it's "up to Chuck Schumer and the White House whether they are interested in trying to gain some Republican support or not."
Collins said Democrats are being similarly uncompromising on the minimum wage, which they would like raised to $15.
"The minimum wage could be brought to the floor as a separate bill and I believe that a $10 minimum wage would pass," Collins said. "That would make life so much better for so many low-income workers and yet the approach that's been taken is all or nothing on 15. I don't understand that."
-ABC News' Allison Pecorin