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Eugene Field

Eugene Field Sr. (September 2, 1850 – November 4, 1895) was an American writer, best known for his children's poetry and humorous essays. He was known as the "poet of childhood".

Early life and education
Field was born in St. Louis, Missouri at 634 S. Broadway where today his boyhood home is open to the public as The Eugene Field House and St. Louis Toy Museum. After the death of his mother in 1856, he was raised by an aunt, Mary Field French, in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Field's father, attorney Roswell Martin Field, was the lawyer who filed Dred Scott's case.

Field attended Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. His father died when Eugene turned 19, and he subsequently dropped out of Williams after eight months. He then went to Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, but dropped out after a year, followed by the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, where his brother Roswell was also attending. Field was not a serious student and spent much of his time at school playing practical jokes. He led raids on the president's wine cellar, painted the president's house school colors, and fired the school's landmark cannons at midnight. Field tried acting, studied law with little success, and also wrote for the student newspaper. He then set off for a trip through Europe but returned to the United States six months later, penniless.

Career
Field then set to work as a journalist for the St. Joseph Gazette in Saint Joseph, Missouri, in 1875. That same year he married Julia Comstock, with whom he had eight children. For the rest of his life he arranged for all the money he earned to be sent to his wife, saying that he had no head for money himself.

Field soon rose to city editor of the Gazette.

He became known for his light, humorous articles written in a gossipy style, some of which were reprinted by other newspapers around the country. It was during this time that he wrote the famous poem "Lovers Lane" about a street in St. Joseph, Missouri.

From 1876 through 1880, Field lived in St. Louis, first as an editorial writer for the Morning Journal and subsequently for the Times-Journal. After a brief stint as managing editor of the Kansas City Times, he worked for two years as editor of the Denver Tribune.

In 1883, Field moved to Chicago where he wrote a humorous newspaper column called Sharps and Flats for the Chicago Daily News. His home in Chicago was near the intersection of N. Clarendon and W. Hutchinson in the neighborhood now known as Buena Park.

The Sharps and Flats column ran in the newspaper's morning edition. In it, Field made quips about issues and personalities of the day, especially in the arts and literature. A pet subject was the intellectual greatness of Chicago, especially compared to Boston. In April 1887, Field wrote, "While Chicago is humping herself in the interests of literature, art and the sciences, vain old Boston is frivoling away her precious time in an attempted renaissance of the cod fisheries." Also that year, Chicago's National League baseball club sold future baseball Hall of Famer Mike "King" Kelly to Boston, and coincidentally soon after, famous Boston poet and diplomat James Russell Lowell made a speaking tour of Chicago. "Chicago feels a special interest in Mr. Lowell at this particular time because he is perhaps the foremost representative of the enterprising and opulent community which within the last week has secured the services of one of Chicago's honored sons for the base-ball season of 1887," Field wrote. "The fact that Boston has come to Chicago for the captain of her baseball nine has reinvigorated the bonds of affection between the metropolis of the Bay state [sic] and the metropolis of the mighty west; the truth of this will appear in the mighty welcome which our public will give Mr. Lowell next Tuesday."

Four months later, upon Kelly's first return to Chicago as a player for Boston, Field would speak to "Col. Samuel J. Bosbyshell, the Prairie avenue millionaire." Bosbyshell said, "I like Mr. Kelly better than I do Lowell. When Lowell was here I had him out to the house to a $3,500 dinner, and do what I could, I couldn't get him waked up.  He didn't seem to want to talk about anything but literature.  Now, when I'm out in society I make it a point never to talk shop, and Lowell's peculiarity mortified me.  If it hadn't been for [Chicago humorist] Frank Lincoln, with his imitations and funny stories, the dinner would have been a stupid affair.  But Kelly is another kind of man; he is more versatile than Lowell.  I don't believe he mentioned books once during the four hours we sat at dinner last Saturday evening.  Nor did he confine his conversation to base-ball topics; he is deeply versed in turf lore, and he talked most entertainingly of the prominent race horses he was acquainted with and of the leading jockeys he has met."

Field first started publishing poetry in 1879, when his poem "Christmas Treasures" appeared in A Little Book of Western Verse. Over a dozen volumes of poetry followed and he became well known for his light-hearted poems for children, among the most famous of which are "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" and "The Duel" (which is perhaps better known as "The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat"). Equally famous is his poem about the death of a child, "Little Boy Blue". Field also published a number of short stories, including "The Holy Cross" and "Daniel and the Devil."

The volume, The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac, was published posthumously with an introduction by Field's brother, Roswell Martin Field in 1896.

Field died in Chicago of a heart attack at the age of 45. He is buried at the Church of the Holy Comforter in Kenilworth, Illinois. Slason Thompson's 1901 biography of Field states that he was originally buried in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, but his son-in-law, Senior Warden of the Church of the Holy Comforter, had him reinterred on March 7, 1926.

Legacy
Several of his poems were set to music with commercial success by composers such as Isabel Stewart North, Gertrude Ross, and Ella May Dunning Smith. Many of his works were accompanied by paintings from Maxfield Parrish.

His childhood home in St. Louis is now a museum. The Eugene Field House contains many of Field's mementos, including original manuscripts, books, furniture, personal effects, and some of the toys that inspired his poems.

Field has his own star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

In 2016, Field was inducted into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame.

As a memorial to Field, a statue of the Dream Lady from his poem "Rock-a-by-Lady" was erected in 1922 at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. There is also a park and fieldhouse named in his honor in Chicago's Albany Park neighborhood. In nearby Oak Park, Illinois, another park is named in his honor. A statue of Wynken, Blynken and Nod adorns Washington Park, near Field's Denver home. Another statue of Wynken, Blynken and Nod sits in the center of the town square (called "the green" by locals) in Wellsboro, Pa.

Numerous elementary schools throughout the Midwest are named for him, e.g. Eugene Field Elementary School in Chicago, Illinois; Wheeling, Illinois; Rock Island, Illinois; Elmhurst, Illinois; Normal, Illinois; Park Ridge, Illinois; Maryville, Missouri; St. Joseph, Missouri; Hannibal, Missouri; Columbia, Missouri; Mexico, Missouri; Neosho, Missouri; Poplar Bluff, Missouri; Springfield, Missouri; Webb City, Missouri; Manhattan, Kansas; Ottawa, Kansas; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and formerly in Muncie, Indiana (closed in 1973).

Other schools named after Field are located in Littleton, Colorado; Mitchell, South Dakota;Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Altus, Oklahoma; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Hugo, Oklahoma; Beaumont, Texas; Houston, Texas; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Mesa, Arizona; Pasadena, California; San Diego, California; and Silverton, Oregon.

One of the branches of the Denver Public Library near Field's Denver home is named after him, as is an apartment building in Denver's Poet's Row. A dormitory in the Orchard Hill residential area at the University of Massachusetts Amherst also bears Field's name.

Before his death, Field wrote and published an anonymous work about a 12-year-old boy being seduced by a woman in her 30s. It was titled "Only a Boy". In the 1920s, American drama critic and magazine editor George Jean Nathan recalled it as a popular forbidden work among those coming of age at the turn of the century, along with Fanny Hill and "Green Girls of Paris". It was published by Grove Press in 1968 with the real author's name.

title: Eugene Field


text:
1989 air battle near Tobruk

On 4 January 1989, two Grumman F-14 Tomcats of the United States Navy shot down two Libyan-operated Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 Floggers which the American aircrews believed were attempting to engage and attack them, as had happened eight years prior during the 1981 Gulf of Sidra incident. The engagement took place over the Mediterranean Sea, about 40 mi north of Tobruk, Libya.

Background
In 1973, Libya claimed much of the Gulf of Sidra (south of Latitude 31° 30′) as its territorial waters and subsequently declared a "line of death", the crossing of which would invite a military response. The United States did not recognize Libya's territorial claims and continued to challenge the line, leading to military hostilities in August 1981 and March 1986. A terrorist attack in Germany which killed two American soldiers and one Turkish civilian on 5 April 1986 was linked to Libya and prompted the U.S. to carry out retaliatory air strikes against targets in Libya ten days later.

Attempts by Libya to obtain weapons of mass destruction were of great concern to U.S. President Ronald Reagan's administration since it viewed Libya as a state sponsor of terrorism. Tensions between Libya and the U.S. were running high after the latter accused Libya of building a chemical weapons plant near Rabta in the fall of 1988. During a December 1988 press interview, Reagan indicated the potential for military action to destroy the plant. The possibility of a U.S. attack caused Libya to increase its air defenses around Rabta and its state of military readiness throughout the country.

Engagement
On the morning of 4 January 1989, the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) was sailing toward the eastern Mediterranean Sea for a scheduled port visit to Haifa, Israel. The carrier was over 120 mi north of Libya and had aircraft operating roughly 80 mi north of the country. Aircraft operating from the Kennedy included several flights of A-6 Intruders on exercises south of Crete, two pairs of F-14 Tomcats from VF-14 and VF-32 conducting combat air patrols, and an E-2 Hawkeye from VAW-126 providing airborne early warning and control.

The easternmost combat air patrol station was provided by the two F-14s from VF-32 with aircraft call signs Gypsy 207 (crewed by Commander Joseph Bernard Connelly and Commander Leo F. Enwright in Bureau Number 159610) and Gypsy 202 (crewed by Lieutenant Herman C. Cook III and Lieutenant Commander Steven Patrick Collins in Bureau Number 159437). Although the Kennedy battle group was not operating within the contentious Gulf of Sidra and was 600 mi away from Rabta, the battle group commander believed Libyan concerns over a U.S. attack increased the likelihood of a confrontation. He gave the American air crews a special briefing emphasizing their rules of engagement.

At 11:55 local time, the airborne E-2 detected two Libyan MiG-23 Floggers taking off from Bomba (Al Bumbah) airfield near Tobruk, and observed them heading north toward the battle group. The two F-14s from VF-32 were directed to intercept the MiG-23s, while the F-14s from VF-14 covered the A-6s as they departed to the north. Using their onboard radars, the intercepting F-14s began tracking the MiG-23s when the Libyan aircraft were 72 nmi away, at an altitude of 8000 ft and traveling at 420 kn. Unlike some previous aerial encounters in which Libyan pilots were instructed to turn back after detecting an F-14's radar signal sweep their aircraft, the MiG-23s continued to close on the American fighters with a head-on approach.

As both pairs of aircraft converged, the E-2 and other U.S. eavesdropping assets in the area monitored radio communications between the Libyan aircraft and their ground controllers. The Americans listened to the MiG-23s receiving guidance to intercept the F-14s from ground controllers at a radar station in Bomba. This radar station was one of several activated along the Libyan coast to support the MiG-23s.

At 11:58, the F-14s made a left turn, away from the MiG-23s, to initiate a standard intercept. Seven seconds later, the MiG-23s turned back into the American fighters for another head-on approach and were descending in altitude. At this point, the F-14 aircrews began employing tactics to reduce the effectiveness of the MiG-23s' radars and the 12-mile-range (12 mi) AA-7 Apex missiles they were potentially carrying. The American aircraft started descending from 20000 to 3000 ft to fly lower than the Libyan fighters. The drop in altitude was meant to prevent the MiG-23s from detecting the F-14s by using ocean clutter to confuse their onboard radars. The American pilots executed another left turn away from the Libyan aircraft during the descent. Moments after the F-14s created a 30-degree offset, the MiG-23s turned to place themselves back into a collision course and accelerated to 500 kn.

The air warfare commander on the Kennedy gave the American aircrews the authority to fire if they believed the MiG-23s were hostile. The F-14s turned away from the approaching MiG-23s two more times, and each time, the American aircrews saw the Libyan aircraft turn back toward them for a head-on approach. At 12:00:53, the Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) in the lead F-14, Commander Leo Enwright in Gypsy 207, ordered the arming of the AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles on the American fighters, after what he determined was the fifth time the Libyan aircraft turned back toward them.

The American aircrews armed their weapons when the opposing aircraft were less than 20 mi away, the two groups closing in on each other at a rate of 1000 kn. At a distance of about 14 nmi, the lead F-14 pilot, Commander Joseph Connelly, made a radio call to the carrier group's air warfare commander to see if there was any additional information in regard to the MiG-23s. There was no response to his call. At 12:01:20 and at a range of 12 nmi, Enwright fired an AIM-7, surprising Connelly, who did not expect to see a missile accelerate away from their aircraft. The missile failed to track toward its target. At a distance of about 10 nmi, Enwright launched a second AIM-7, but it also failed to hit its target.

The MiG-23s continued to fly directly toward the American fighters at 550 kn. The F-14s executed a defensive split, where both aircraft made turns in opposite directions. Both Libyan fighters turned left to pursue the second F-14, Gypsy 202. Connelly prepared Gypsy 207 for a right turn to get behind the MiG-23s as they went after the other American fighter. With the MiG-23s pointed directly at them, the crew of Gypsy 202 fired a third AIM-7 from roughly 5 mi away and downed one of the Libyan aircraft.

After executing a sharp right turn, Gypsy 207 gained a position in the rear quadrant of the remaining MiG-23. As the Libyan fighter was turning left and from a distance of 1+1/2 mi, Connelly fired an AIM-9 missile, which downed its target. The second MiG-23 was hit by the AIM-9 at 12:02:36. The F-14s descended to an altitude of several hundred feet and returned at high speed to the carrier group. The Libyan pilots were both seen to successfully eject and parachute into the sea, but it is not known whether the Libyan Air Force was able to successfully recover them.

Aftermath
The following day, Libya accused the U.S. of attacking two unarmed reconnaissance planes which were on a routine mission over international waters. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi called for a United Nations emergency session to take up the incident. The U.S. claimed the American aircrews acted in self-defense due to demonstrations of hostile intent by the Libyan aircraft.

Two days after the engagement, the Pentagon released photographs taken from the videotapes on the F-14s which, according to U.S. naval intelligence analysts, showed the lead MiG-23 armed with two AA-7 Apex missiles and two AA-8 Aphid missiles. The AA-7 can be either a semi-active radar-homing missile or an infrared-homing (heat-seeking) missile, and it can be fired at another aircraft from head-on. The imagery was used to prove the Libyan fighters were armed and helped support the U.S. position that the MiG-23s were hostile.

The intent for the Libyan aircraft on 4 January is not known for certain. Gaddafi could have believed the U.S. was preparing for an attack on the chemical facility in Rabta and ordered his military to see if the aircraft offshore were bombers bound for targets in Libya. The possible reasons for the MiG-23s' flight profile range from a deliberate attack against the battle group to a radio breakdown with ground controllers leading to the Libyan fighters merging with the F-14s.

Details released three months after the incident revealed that the MiG-23s never turned on their fire control radars, needed to guide their AA-7 missiles at maximum range. The turns by the Libyan pilots prior to the first missile launch by the F-14s were considered too slight to be hostile, according to U.S. House Armed Services Committee chairman Les Aspin. Despite these findings, Aspin said the self-defense claim by the U.S. was still justified due to the continued acceleration of the MiG-23s as they closed the distance with the F-14s and Libya's history of firing first.

F-14 Tomcat Bureau Numbers 159437, 159610
At the request of the National Air and Space Museum, the U.S. Navy provided Bureau Number (BuNo) 159610 to its Udvar-Hazy location near Dulles International Airport. Although Tomcat BuNo 159610 downed the Libyan MiG-23 as a VF-32 F-14A model Tomcat, it returned from that deployment and was entered into the F-14D re-manufacture program, later serving in a precision strike role as a VF-31 F-14D(R).

, BuNo 159437 was still stored at the Aircraft Maintenance and Restoration Group (AMARG) facility at Davis-Monthan AFB. One of eight F-14s remaining in the AMARG complex, it has not been scrapped due to impending museum placement.

In popular culture

 * Parts of the audio of the engagement were used in the 1992 movie Under Siege and the soundtrack to MicroProse's 1998 video game Falcon 4.0.
 * On the American television series JAG, Fictional Pilot Harmon 'Harm' Rabb, Jr. was one of two F-14 pilots in an incident similar to this one; Harm shot down a Libyan Air Force MiG-23, disabled another, and forced the third one to return to its base.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: 1989 air battle near Tobruk


text:
Enemy at the Gates

Enemy at the Gates (Stalingrad in France and L'Ennemi aux portes in Canada) is a 2001 war film directed, co-written, and produced by Jean-Jacques Annaud, based on William Craig's 1973 nonfiction book Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad, which describes the events surrounding the Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942–1943. The screenplay was written by Annaud and Alain Godard. The film's main character is a fictionalized version of Vasily Zaitsev, a sniper and Hero of the Soviet Union during World War II. It includes a snipers' duel between Zaitsev and a Wehrmacht sniper school director, Major Erwin König.

The cast includes Jude Law as Zaitsev, Rachel Weisz as Tania Chernova, and Ed Harris as König, with Joseph Fiennes, Bob Hoskins, Ron Perlman, Eva Mattes, Gabriel Marshall Thomson, and Matthias Habich in supporting roles.

Plot
Vassili Zaitsev, a soldier in the Red Army, is sent to the frontline of the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942. Forced into a suicidal charge without a rifle but with ammunition, he hides among a pile of corpses, while a tank shell incapacitates a car. The occupant, Commissar Danilov, takes cover in the same heap of corpses and finds a rifle. Vassili reveals himself, advising the commissar not to fire until an explosion covers the noise. Danilov gives the rifle to Vassili, who, to the former's astonishment, is able to kill five German soldiers in less than a minute.

Nikita Khrushchev demands ideas from his subordinates to improve morale. While the other commissars suggest more severe discipline and terror, Danilov, now a senior lieutenant, recommends giving the troops inspiration. He suggests they should "make examples, but examples to follow," and recommends Zaitsev for that role. Soon after, Danilov begins publishing heroic tales of Vassili's exploits in the army's newspaper. Vassili is transferred to the sniper division and becomes friends with Danilov. Both also become romantically interested in Tania Chernova, a private in the local militia. In fear for her safety, Danilov has her transferred to an intelligence unit, ostensibly to make use of her German skills in translating radio intercepts.

With the Soviet snipers taking an increasing toll on the German forces, German Major Erwin König is deployed to kill Vassili and crush Soviet morale. When the Red Army command learns of König's mission after he wipes out Vassili's sniper unit, they dispatch König's former student Koulikov to help Vassili kill him. König, however, outmaneuvers Koulikov and kills him, shaking Vassili's spirits. Danilov finds a boy, Sacha Filipov, who volunteers to act as a double agent by passing König false information about Vassili's whereabouts in exchange for food. Vassili sets a trap for König and manages to wound him with the help of Tania. During a second attempt, Vassili falls asleep, and his sniper log is stolen by a looting German soldier. The German command takes the log as evidence of Vassili's death and plans to send König home, but König does not believe that Vassili is dead.

General Friedrich Paulus confiscates König's dog tags to prevent Soviet propaganda from profiting if König is killed and identified. In turn, König gives the general a War Merit Cross that was posthumously awarded to his son, a lieutenant in the 116th Infantry Division who was killed in the early days of the battle. König tells Sacha where he will be next after deducing that the boy is responsible for his being wounded. Tania and Vassili have meanwhile fallen in love. That night, Tania secretly goes to the Soviet barracks and makes love with Vassili. The jealous Danilov disparages Vassili in a letter to his superiors.

König spots Tania and Vassili waiting for him at his next ambush spot, confirming his suspicions about Sacha. He then kills the boy and hangs his body to bait Vassili. Vassili vows to kill König and asks Tania and Danilov to evacuate Sacha's mother. Tania is wounded by shrapnel en route to the boats. Thinking she is dead, Danilov regrets his jealousy of Vassili and even his ardor for communist ideals begins to falter. Finding Vassili waiting to ambush König, Danilov puts on a helmet and exposes himself to provoke König into shooting him and revealing his own position. Thinking that he has killed Vassili, König goes to inspect the body only to find himself in the Russian's sights. Accepting his fate, König grimly turns to look Vassili in the face before being shot. Two months later, after Stalingrad has been liberated and German forces have surrendered, Vassili finds Tania recovering in a field hospital.

Production
The filming of Enemy at the Gates took place in Germany. The crossing of the Volga River was shot on the Altdöberner See, a man-made lake near the village of Pritzen, in the south of Brandenburg. A derelict factory in the village of Rüdersdorf was used to recreate the ruins of Stalingrad's tractor factory. The massive outdoor set of Stalingrad's Red Square was built at Krampnitz, near Potsdam. It was a former Wehrmacht riding school that had served as a Soviet barracks during the Cold War. Set construction began in October 1999 and took almost five months to complete. The scene at the end with the waving coats is a reference to Sergio Leone.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack to Enemy at the Gates was written by James Horner and released on 31 March 2001.

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 53% approval rating from 139 critics with a weighted average score of 5.70/10. The website's consensus says: "Atmospheric and thrilling, Enemy at the Gates gets the look and feel of war right. However, the love story seems out of place." Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, calculated an average score of 53 out of 100, based on 33 reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Military historian David R. Stone praised the cast and said the film is "a good thing for the study of the Eastern Front during World War II" but criticized its historical inaccuracies and presentation, concluding: "To end on a brighter note, Enemy at the Gates has at the very least boosted the number of my students who drop by the office to ask questions about Stalingrad. I only wish it had done a better job of giving them good answers." For the Society for Military History, historian Roger Reese wrote: "As a work of fictionalized history this movie serves a useful purpose beyond entertainment, that of bringing to the attention of movie-goers in the West the sacrifices Soviet soldiers made in defending their country and defeating Hitler and giving a face to those legions still largely anonymous to us."

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four and wrote that it "is about two men placed in a situation where they have to try to use their intelligence and skills to kill each other. When Annaud focuses on that, the movie works with rare concentration. The additional plot stuff and the romance are kind of a shame." New York's Peter Ranier was less kind, declaring: "It's as if an obsessed film nut had decided to collect every bad war-film convention on one computer and program it to spit out a script." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone admitted the film had faults but said that "any flaws in execution pale against those moments when the film brings history to vital life."

The film received unenthusiastic reviews in Russia but had good box office in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Some Red Army Stalingrad veterans were so offended by inaccuracies in the film and how the Red Army was portrayed that on 7 May 2001, shortly after the film premiered in Russia, they expressed their displeasure in the State Duma, demanding a ban of the film but their request was not granted. The film was also received poorly in Germany. Critics stated that it simplified history and glorified war. At the Berlinale film festival, it was booed. Annaud stated afterwards that he would not present another film at Berlinale, calling it a "slaughterhouse" and said that his film received a much better reception elsewhere.

Historical accuracy
As a film inspired by real events, it was dramatized and the plot was fictional in several ways. It contained several inaccuracies, including about Vasily Zaitsev, developments of the war, graphic details, and maps depicting a modern map of Russia, Ukraine, and the Baltic states as independent countries, as well as Switzerland and Turkey being invaded by Nazi Germany. Zaitsev was a senior sergeant (ста́рший сержа́нт) in the 2nd Battalion, 1047th Rifle Regiment, 284th Tomsk Rifle Division, during the Battle of Stalingrad. The film uses events from William Craig's 1973 nonfiction book Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad but is not a direct adaptation. The book by Zaitsev himself "There was no land for us beyond the Volga. Sniper's Notes" («За Волгой земли для нас не было. Записки снайпера»), which completely contradicts the point of view presented in Craig's book and the film on the events that took place, is not taken into account. Historian Antony Beevor said he believed Zaitsev's story to be fictional. There is no documentation about the duel between Zaytsev and Major Erwin König.

The film misrepresents the role of blocking detachments in the Red Army. Although there was Order No. 227 (Директива Ставки ВГК №227) that became the rallying cry of "Not a step back!" (Ни шагу назад!), machine gunners were not placed behind regular troops with orders to kill anyone who retreated, and they were used only for penal troops. As per Order No. 227, each detachment would have between three and five barrier squads per 200 personnel. At the same time, the film has been accused of understating the role of women. In the film, two women snipers appear but never shoot at anyone, in fact, Soviet women snipers have been credited with killing over 10,000 enemies in combat.

The film's first scene shows new Soviet troops, including Zaitsev, arriving at the Stalingrad front, being screamed at, threatened, and in general humiliated by their commanders. They are then transported and locked in crowded boxcars to stop them from deserting. According to military historian Boris Yulin, that was forbidden and is unrealistic, as the soldiers would have then been killed in case of a German air raid or shelling. According to historian Alexey Isaev, who has written several books about the Battle of Stalingrad, blocking detachments were mostly used in Stalingrad as "usual combat regiments" although the film emphasizes the message that "most Soviet soldiers needed a literal gun in the back in order to go into battle". As there were many cases of heroism, it is argued it was unlikely that Soviet soldiers were motivated only by fear. In regards to the lack of weapons, which happened early in the war and changed by 1942, Isaev said: "There were no unarmed soldiers sent to the attack.... What is shown in Enemy at the Gates is pure nonsense."

title: Enemy at the Gates


text:
Vasily Zaitsev

 * Vasily Zaitsev (pilot) (1910–1961), Soviet World War II flying ace
 * Vasily Zaitsev (sniper) (1915–1991), Soviet World War II sniper

title: Vasily Zaitsev


text:
User talk:RedWolf/Archive

UML state machine
Greetings. I am interested in contacting you regarding your contributions on the UML statemachine. Either I can send you my email or you can send me one, whichever is convenient. I prefer email because there I have everything organized.

Regards Rivkaumiller (talk) 22:30, 25 February 2014 (UTC)

New article created in place of deleted article
Hi, I created a new Franklyn_Jenifer article, as the old one was deleted. As you gave a credible reason for deletion for the earlier one, I'm just giving you a heads-up. It's a bit ugly, especially in regard to format for references and citations. Any feedback is welcome. Thanks. Skandha101 • 01:28, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

 * Looking back at the history, I deleted it because of a copyright violation. As long as the new article isn't a copyvio and has suitable references that illustrate that he is notable, it should be fine from my perspective. RedWolf (talk) 04:10, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

March 2014
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WP Mountains in the Signpost
The WikiProject Report would like to focus on WikiProject Mountains for a Signpost article. This is an excellent opportunity to draw attention to your efforts and attract new members to the project. Would you be willing to participate in an interview? If so, here are the questions for the interview. Just add your response below each question and feel free to skip any questions that you don't feel comfortable answering. Multiple editors will have an opportunity to respond to the interview questions, so be sure to sign your answers. If you know anyone else who would like to participate in the interview, please share this with them. Have a great day. –Mabeenot (talk) 19:40, 22 March 2014 (UTC)

Lillooet/St'at'imc/St'at'imcets PRIMARYTOPIC/dab dispute at RM
Hi, don't know if you're much active nowadays; I should know better than to be :-). You rightly redirected Lillooet to Lillooet, British Columbia when that standalone title was created in 2005; this came up in my examination of the page's history; I've overexplained myself to Ish Ishwar just now, who was the second edit a year later; this isn't polling because I don't know what you'll say, only informing you (so I would tell someone who would scold me), so it's not "polling".....polling is really about bias, what I'm looking for here is common sense....which I'm not getting much of at all.  I won't re-explain the issues here but you can read all about it yourself, if you'd please take the time.......Also a similar section title on User talk:Ish ishwar concerns the setting for the opposition I'm encountering.....a bit too persistently....I'm an old man now, and find all of this a waste of time; procedure has taken over wiki-time for me.... I may leave again soon, in fact, but not utnil certain things are set right....and SALTed....Skookum1 (talk) 17:26, 30 March 2014 (UTC)

Obsolete category
Hello RedWolf. I wanted to let you know that I depopulated Category:Somatoform disorders, a category you created, and taged it csd-c1 as an empty category. I did this because the new DSM-5 has discontinued using the term: somatoform disorder in favor of somatic symptom disorder. All pages have been moved to the newly created category: Category:Somatic symptom disorders. Thank you for this and all other contributions you have made to this encyclopedia. Best regards.—John Cline (talk) 02:07, 9 April 2014 (UTC)

File:Shades of Deep Purple.jpg listed for deletion
A file that you uploaded or altered, File:Shades of Deep Purple.jpg, has been listed at Files for deletion. Please see the to see why it has been listed (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry). Feel free to add your opinion on the matter below the nomination. Thank you. Peripitus (Talk) 09:01, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:GL My Favorite Headache.jpg
 Thanks for uploading File:GL My Favorite Headache.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

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 * Orphaned by a bad edit from anon IP editor. Article link to image restored. RedWolf (talk) 07:52, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

Peakbagger ref template
Hello. Regarding this change. I cite Peakbagger fairly often and I don't have a problem with using this template other than it takes just as long to fill in the fields as it does to format it manually and I don't have to copy/paste or remember the proper syntax of the template. So overall it's quicker for me to manually format. Also, the way I have been doing it the past 2 or 3 years, the resulting displayed text is exactly the same anyway. If there is a good reason to use the template, I will be happy to start using it from now on. -- Racer X11 Talk to me Stalk me  20:05, 10 May 2014 (UTC)

Hi. The citation templates have a number of advantages: I can see it being a bit easier/quicker not to use the templates but I feel the template benefits are worth the extra bit of time.RedWolf (talk) 18:07, 11 May 2014 (UTC)
 * the references formatting is consistent.
 * updating the url is easy in case the site ever decides to change it (e.g. the GNIS URL tends to change every couple of years as it did recently).
 * a tracking category can be easily added to the template if need be.
 * using the "what links here" for the template allows us to quickly find all articles using it as a reference/source.
 * if the peakbagger site ever goes away, we can add the 'archiveurl' and 'archivedate' parameters to the template so editors can still find the original content on archive.org.

 * Very well then. Those are good reasons so I will certainly use it now. Thanks. -- Racer X11 Talk to me Stalk me  18:21, 11 May 2014 (UTC)

May 2014
Hello, I'm BracketBot. I have automatically detected that [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=608080735 your edit] to Indian Heaven may have broken the syntax by modifying 1 "[]"s. If you have, don't worry: just [ edit the page] again to fix it. If I misunderstood what happened, or if you have any questions, you can leave a message on [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?action=edit&preload=User:A930913/BBpreload&editintro=User:A930913/BBeditintro&minor=&title=User_talk:A930913&preloadtitle=BracketBot%20–%20&section=new my operator's talk page].
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 * by seven small shield volcanoes that may have each erupted only once. Those shields are topped by small spatter and cinder cones. The
 * Fixed. RedWolf (talk) 17:41, 11 May 2014 (UTC)
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 * '' is a summit of the Karwendel range in the Austrian state of Tyrol.

Orphaned non-free image File:Judas Priest SforV.jpg
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Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. Stefan2 (talk) 20:37, 15 May 2014 (UTC)

Canadian Rockies
Thank you for all the work you have done on Mount Robson/Lake Louise/Alberta Rockies! Which I believe is one of the most beautiful places on earth, if not the most beautiful.Jämtland98 (talk) 11:00, 13 December 2014 (UTC)

Britannia Range TWODAB
I just found this by dablink notification as I'd used it on M Creek, I see you made the dab page in 2011... but per WP:TWODAB (or is it WP:TWODABS?) aren't two-dab pages supposed to be avoided and hatnotes used instead. And as to primary topic here, while the Howe Sound range isn't all that well-known (despite being some high-priced real estate), surely the Antarctic one isn't either? Incoming links to the BC one are and will be many....same maybe with pageviews. Prove me wrong about incoming links to the Antarctic one, but I'm seeing a PRIMARYTOPIC RM brewing here and on various other TWODABs and similar lately: the most-linked/used on should be undabbed.Skookum1 (talk) 02:41, 28 December 2014 (UTC)
 * I have moved this discussion to Talk:Britannia Range and provided my initial response. RedWolf (talk) 18:51, 30 December 2014 (UTC)

title: User talk:RedWolf/Archive


text:
Medal of Honour (Hong Kong)

The Medal of Honour (MH) is part of the honours system in Hong Kong. It was created in 1997 to replace the British honours system after the transfer of sovereignty to the People's Republic of China and the establishment of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The Medal of Honour is the entry level award under the Hong Kong honours system and is awarded for community service in a district or in a particular area for a long period of time. It may also be awarded to civil servants for serving with distinction.

This medal essentially replaced the Order of the British Empire prior to 1 July 1997.

title: Medal of Honour (Hong Kong)


text:
List of Hollywood novels

This is a list of Hollywood novels i.e., notable fiction about the American film and television industry and associated culture. The Hollywood novel is not to be confused with the Los Angeles novel, which is a novel set in Los Angeles and environs but not overtly about the movie business and its effect on the lives of industry participants and moviegoers. For instance, the works of Paul Beatty, Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, and Aldous Huxley's Ape and Essence are Los Angeles novels but not Hollywood novels; The Oxford Companion to English Literature deems Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust a standard example of the Hollywood novel.

The Hollywood novel genre dates to 1916 and is the "only American regional genre determined by a specific industry." Hollywood novels portray the entertainment industry as "glitzy, powerful, and often sleazy." According to the New York Society Library, "Yes, there is a part of Los Angeles called Hollywood, but the Hollywood of our imagination is so much more. It is the locus of the motion picture industry. Home to stars and producers and writers. A glamorous place. A place that is quintessentially American—where strivers and connivers can reinvent themselves and where there is always the possibility of being discovered. For better or worse, it has helped to define our country to ourselves and to the world. It is easy to see why writers have taken it up as a subject so frequently."

According to author Michael Friedman in Publishers Weekly, "My informal taxonomy revealed that, as far as subject is concerned, Hollywood novels tend to fall into the following loose categories: moguls (Fitzgerald), divas (McCourt, Vidal), train wrecks (Stone, Didion), ingénues en route to stardom (Lambert), foolish dreams of being discovered (West, McCoy), and Brits who have had enough of our philistine ways and ersatz culture and return home to civilization (Waugh, Wodehouse)."

title: List of Hollywood novels


text:
CAA

CAA may refer to:

Law

 * Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 of India. The Home Ministry on March 11 notified the implementation of Citizenship Amendment Act's (CAA) rules.
 * Protests regarding the Citizenship (Amendment) Act
 * Clean Air Act, United States law to reduce air pollution
 * Congressional Apportionment Amendment, unratified pending United States constitutional amendment
 * Copyright assignment agreement, to transfer copyright to another party
 * Cuban Adjustment Act, United States federal law

Arts

 * China Academy of Art, a fine arts college in China founded in 1928
 * College Art Association, a professional arts association in the US
 * Concert Artistes Association, founded 1897

Automobile

 * Canadian Automobile Association, a federation of clubs across Canada
 * China Automobile Association, a roadside assistance provider in China owned by Insurance Australia Group
 * Cyprus Automobile Association, a non-profit organization, providing roadside assistance services

Airlines

 * CAA, ICAO airline designator for Atlantic Southeast Airlines, a defunct carrier in the United States
 * Central African Airways, a defunct airline, national carrier for the Central African Federation
 * Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation, a Congolese airline

Regulatory agencies

 * Civil aviation authority (CAA), general term for a statutory authority that oversees the regulation of civil aviation
 * Civil Aviation Authority, the name of these countries' regulators:
 * Civil Aviation Authority (New Zealand)
 * Civil Aviation Authority (South Africa)
 * Civil Aviation Authority (United Kingdom)
 * Civil Aviation Authority (Moldova) (formerly Civil Aviation Administration in English)
 * Civil Aviation Authority of Norway
 * Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines
 * Civil Aviation Agency, the name of two countries' regulators in English:
 * Civil Aviation Agency Slovenia
 * Latvian Civil Aviation Agency
 * Civil Aeronautics Administration (disambiguation), two national regulators:
 * Civil Aeronautics Administration (Taiwan), a division of Ministry of Transportation and Communication
 * Civil Aeronautics Administration (United States), formed in 1938 and split into two agencies in 1940

Other

 * Children's Air Ambulance, air ambulance for children in the UK

Science

 * Canadian Archaeological Association, publishes archaeological literature
 * Canadian Avalanche Association, avalanche awareness and safety
 * Carinthian Astronomical Association (Astronomische Vereinigung Kärntens), Austria
 * Center for American Archeology, in Kampsville, Illinois, an independent non-profit research and education
 * Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) - international organization of archaeologists, organizes an annual conference

Sports and entertainment

 * Canyon Athletic Association, an association to organize sports for smaller charter schools in the state of Arizona
 * Coastal Athletic Association, an NCAA Division I college athletic conference whose full-time members are in East Coast US states
 * Coastal Athletic Association Football Conference, branded as CAA Football, a technically separate conference for American football operated by the above
 * Confederation of African Athletics, a continental association for the sport of athletics in Africa
 * Creative Artists Agency, an American talent and sports agency
 * Cycle Action Auckland, a pro-cycling advocacy group in Auckland, New Zealand

Other organizations

 * Campaign Against Antisemitism, a UK organisation
 * California Alumni Association, the alumni association of the University of California, Berkeley
 * Carriage Association of America
 * Case Alumni Association, oldest independent alumni organization in the US
 * Cat Aficionado Association, a registry of pedigreed felines in China
 * Center for Academic Advancement, a part of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth
 * Center for Army Analysis, US
 * China Advertising Association
 * Commission for Academic Accreditation, United Arab Emirates
 * Commonwealth Association of Architects, an organisation for architects in commonwealth countries
 * Council on African Affairs, provided information about Africa to the US, particularly to African Americans

Science and technology

 * Cerebral amyloid angiopathy, a form of angiopathy
 * Computational aeroacoustics, direct simulation of acoustic fields associated with flows
 * Computer-aided assessment, assessment performed or mediated through computer methods
 * Computer-aided auscultation, computer analysis of stethoscope data
 * DNS Certification Authority Authorization, a method for cross-checking security information on the Internet
 * Cover Art Archive, a project hosting album cover art images
 * CAA, one of the codons for the amino acid glutamine

Other uses

 * Command Arms and Accessories, an Israeli firearms manufacturer of Kalashnikov style weapons
 * Coventry Arena railway station, station code "CAA"
 * Chester A. Arthur, 21st president of the United States

title: CAA


text:
Susan Collins

Susan Margaret Collins (born December 7, 1952) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maine. A member of the Republican Party, she has held her seat since 1997 and is Maine's longest-serving member of Congress.

Born in Caribou, Maine, Collins is a graduate of St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York. Beginning her career as a staff assistant for Senator William Cohen in 1975, she became staff director of the Oversight of Government Management Subcommittee of the Committee on Governmental Affairs (which later became the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs) in 1981. Governor John R. McKernan Jr. then appointed her commissioner of the Maine Department of Professional and Financial Regulation in 1987. In 1992 President George H. W. Bush appointed her director of the Small Business Administration's regional office in Boston. Collins became a deputy state treasurer in the office of the Treasurer and Receiver-General of Massachusetts in 1993. After moving back to Maine in 1994, she became the Republican nominee for governor of Maine in the 1994 general election. She was the first female major-party nominee for the post, finishing third in a four-way race with 23% of the vote. After her bid for governor in 1994, she became the founding director of the Center for Family Business at Husson University in Bangor, Maine.

Collins was first elected to the Senate in 1996. She was reelected in 2002, in 2008, in 2014, and in 2020. She chaired the Senate Special Committee on Aging from 2015 to 2021 and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs from 2003 to 2007. Collins is a senior Republican woman in the Senate, the dean of Maine's congressional delegation, and the only New England Republican in the 116th, 117th, and 118th Congresses. As of the 118th Congress, Collins is the only Republican to represent a Northeastern state in the Senate. She has been called a moderate Republican, and is often a pivotal vote in the Senate. To date, Collins is the longest-serving Republican woman in the Senate, and since 2019, the only Republican official holding statewide office in Maine.

Collins, who has described herself as a pro-choice Republican, attracted controversy for her vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. She attributed her vote to her belief that Kavanaugh would not support overturning Roe v. Wade; in June 2022, Kavanaugh joined the majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe.

During the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton, Collins was one of 10 Republican senators to vote to acquit him on the first charge and one of five to vote to acquit on the second, and during the first impeachment trial of Donald Trump, Collins joined all Senate Republicans but one in voting to acquit him on the first charge, and all Republicans to acquit on the second. She was the only Republican senator to vote against confirming Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court in 2020. On February 13, 2021, she was one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict Trump of incitement of insurrection in his second impeachment trial.

Early life
One of six children, Collins was born in Caribou, Maine, where her family operates a lumber business established by her great-great-great-grandfather, Samuel W. Collins, in 1844. Her parents, Patricia (née McGuigan) and Donald Collins (1925–2018), each served as mayor of Caribou. Her father, a decorated veteran of World War II, also served in the Maine Legislature, with one term in the House, and four in the Senate.

Collins's mother was born in Barrancabermeja, Colombia, to American parents. Collins is of English and Irish ancestry. Her uncle, Samuel W. Collins Jr., sat on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court from 1988 to 1994 and served in the Maine Senate from 1973 to 1984.

Collins attended Caribou High School, where she was president of the student council. During her senior year of high school in 1971, she was chosen to participate in the U.S. Senate Youth Program, through which she visited Washington, D.C., for the first time and had a two-hour conversation with Maine's first female United States Senator, Margaret Chase Smith, also a Republican. Collins is the first program delegate elected to the Senate and holds the seat once held by Smith. After graduating from high school, she continued her education at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York. Like her father, she was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa national academic honor society. She graduated from St. Lawrence magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in government in 1975.

Early political career
Following graduation, Collins worked as a legislative assistant to U.S. Representative and later U.S. Senator William Cohen from 1975 to 1987. She was also staff director of the Oversight of Government Management Subcommittee on the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs from 1981 to 1987.

In 1987, Collins joined the cabinet of Governor John R. McKernan Jr. as Commissioner of the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation. President George H. W. Bush appointed her the New England regional director for the Small Business Administration in 1992. After briefly serving in this post until the 1992 election of President Bill Clinton, she moved to Massachusetts and became Deputy State Treasurer of Massachusetts under Joe Malone in 1993.

Returning to Maine, Collins won an eight-way Republican primary in the 1994 gubernatorial election, becoming the first woman nominated by a major party for governor of Maine. During the campaign, she received little support from Republican leaders and was criticized by conservative groups for her more liberal views on social issues. She lost the general election, receiving 23% of the vote and placing third behind Democrat Joseph E. Brennan and the winner, Independent candidate Angus King, her future Senate colleague.

In December 1994, Collins became the founding executive director of the Richard E. Dyke Center for Family Business at Husson College. She served in this post until 1996, when she announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by her former boss, William Cohen, who retired to become United States Secretary of Defense under President Bill Clinton. With Cohen's public endorsement, she won a difficult four-way primary and faced Brennan, her opponent in the 1994 gubernatorial election, in the general election. She defeated him, 49% to 44%.

Elections

Collins was elected to the Senate in 1996. During the campaign she pledged that, if elected, she would serve only two terms.

Collins was reelected in 2002 over State Senator Chellie Pingree, 58%–42%, in 2008 over Representative Tom Allen, 61.5%–38.5%, and in 2014 over Shenna Bellows, 68.5%–31.5%. In her first three reelection campaigns, she carried every county in Maine.

In 2020, Collins was challenged by Democratic State House Speaker Sara Gideon. The hotly contested race became the most expensive in Maine history, with Collins spending $23 million and Gideon nearly $48 million. The race also had national implications, as defeating Collins was a key part of the Democrats' strategy to achieve a Senate majority. Despite trailing Gideon in every public poll of the race, Collins defeated Gideon by a decisive margin.

In 2009, Collins was called one of "the last survivors of a once common species of moderate Northeastern Republican". She is considered a centrist Republican and an influential player in the Senate.

Although she shared a centrist ideology with Maine's former senator, Olympia Snowe, Collins is considered a "half-turn more conservative" than Snowe. She was consistently endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign, a major LGBT rights organization, until 2020. She supported John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. She became the state's senior senator in 2013 when Snowe left the Senate and was replaced by independent Angus King, who defeated Collins in the 1994 governor election.

First term
In the 1990s, Collins played an important role during the Senate's impeachment trial of Bill Clinton when she and Snowe sponsored a motion that would have allowed the Senate to vote separately on the charges and the remedy. The motion failed, and Snowe and Collins voted to acquit, believing that while Clinton had committed perjury, that was not grounds for removal from office.

In March 1997, the Senate adopted a broader investigation into White House and Congressional campaign fund-raising practices than Senate Republicans initially wanted. Collins said there were "a number of allegations that may or may not be illegal, but they may be improper."

In a May 1997 interview, Collins stated her support for a proposal by Tom Daschle banning all abortions after the fetus is capable of living outside the womb except to save the life of the woman or protect her from physical injury. Of an alternative measure proposed by Rick Santorum that would ban partial-birth abortion, Collins said it "ignores cases in the medical literature involving women with very serious physical health problems".

In 2001 Collins authored a measure that granted the United States Secretary of Education authority to grant waivers that would relieve reservists and members of the National Guard from making federal student loan payments during active duty and grant the same privileges to victims and families of those affected by the September 11 attacks. The bill passed the Senate and House in December 2001.

In November 2002, the Senate overwhelmingly approved the creation of the Department of Homeland Security while a Democratic effort to remove the bill's provisions fell short on a 52-to-47 vote that came after President George W. Bush lobbied against the vote. Collins and other senators said that Senate and House Republicans, as well as the White House, had given them an "ironclad promise" to essentially rescind provisions in the first spending bill to pass Congress the following year.

Second term
In 2004, Collins was one of the primary sponsors of legislation overhauling the U.S. intelligence community by creating a new post, Director of National Intelligence, to oversee budgets and most assets of the spy agencies, and mandating that federal agencies establish minimum standards for states pertaining to issuing driver's licenses and birth certificates along with directing the United States Department of Homeland Security to form standards for ID used to board airplanes. The bill passed in the House and Senate in December. Collins said, "This was the most difficult bill to bring from conception to birth that I can imagine being involved with. But that makes the victory doubly satisfying." Bush signed the bill, formally known as the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, on December 17, 2004.

In May 2005, Collins was one of 14 senators (seven Democrats and seven Republicans) to forge a compromise on the Democrats' use of the judicial filibuster, thus allowing the Republican leadership to end debate without having to exercise the nuclear option. Under the agreement, Democrats agreed they would filibuster Bush's judicial nominees only in "extraordinary circumstances"; three Bush appellate court nominees (Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen, and William Pryor) would receive a vote by the full Senate; and two others, Henry Saad and William Myers, were expressly denied such protection (both eventually withdrew their names from consideration).

In October 2008, Collins criticized robocalls by the McCain campaign claiming that Barack Obama "has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge's home and killed Americans", asserting that those "kind of tactics have no place in Maine politics" and urging McCain to cease the calls immediately.

Third term
In 2009, Collins was criticized for blocking flu relief funding during the swine flu pandemic. She said she had done so on procedural grounds, because the funding did not belong in a stimulus bill: "while worthwhile, [it does] not boost our economy," and "it does not make sense to include $870   million for pandemic flu preparedness."

In April 2010, Collins and Senator Joe Lieberman issued a subpoena seeking documents and interviews associated with the American government's investigation into the conduct of investigators during their interactions with Nidal Hasan before the Fort Hood shooting. The Pentagon announced that the Obama administration would not authorize Senate investigators to question intelligence agents who reviewed e-mails between Hasan and an extremist Islamic cleric before the shooting. Collins and Lieberman issued a statement accusing the Departments of Justice and Defense of refusing "to provide access to their agents who reportedly reviewed Major Hasan's communications with radical extremist cleric Anwar al Awlaki and to transcripts of prosecution interviews with Hasan's associates and superiors, which DOD already provided to its internal review."

In May 2010, Collins and Snowe were the only two Republicans to vote for an unsuccessful Democratic measure that would have prevented bailouts, highlighted financial products of complexity and toughened consumer protection.

In February 2013, Collins announced her opposition to the confirmation of Chuck Hagel for United States Secretary of Defense, citing her belief that Hagel's "past positions, votes and statements [do not] match the challenges of our time." The announcement came as a surprise, as Collins was considered a possible supporter of his nomination, and it occurred while the nomination was being filibustered. The filibuster on Hagel's nomination was defeated, and he was confirmed later that month.

In May 2013, following a report that the Internal Revenue Service had put additional scrutiny on conservative groups, Collins said the revelation "contributes to the profound distrust that the American people have in government" and added that she was disappointed that Obama "hasn't personally condemned this and spoken out".

In April 2014, the Senate debated the Minimum Wage Fairness Act (S. 1737; 113th Congress). The bill would have amended the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) to increase the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour over two years. The bill was strongly supported by Obama and many Democratic senators but strongly opposed by Republicans in the Senate and House. Collins tried to negotiate a compromise bill that centrist Republicans could agree to but was unable to do so.

Fourth term
In May 2016, the Senate passed an appropriations bill containing an amendment by Collins that she said would help prevent the Department of Housing and Urban Development from gaining "national zoning authority for every neighborhood in our country". The legislation was given a veto threat by the White House, which was said by the Office of Management and Budget to oppose "the inclusion of problematic ideological provisions that are beyond the scope of funding legislation".

In 2016, Collins authored the Safe Treatments and Opportunities to Prevent Pain Act, a provision intended to encourage the National Institutes of Health to further its research into opioid therapy alternatives for pain management, and the Infant Plan of Safe Care Act, which mandated that states ensure safe care plans are developed for infants who are drug-dependent before they are discharged from hospitals. These provisions were included in the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, legislation that created programs and expanded treatment access alongside implementing $181   million in new spending as part of an attempt to curb heroin and opioid addiction. Obama signed the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act into law on July 22, 2016.

On August 8, 2016, Collins announced that she would not vote for Donald Trump, the Republican nominee in the 2016 presidential election. She said that as a lifelong Republican she did not make the decision lightly but felt he was unsuitable for office, "based on his disregard for the precept of treating others with respect, an idea that should transcend politics". She considered voting for the Libertarian Party's ticket or a write-in candidate.

In the 2016 United States presidential election, Collins received one electoral vote for vice president from a faithless elector in Washington.

In January 2017, Collins and Senator Lisa Murkowski voted for Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, within the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, passing DeVos's nomination by a vote of 12–11 to allow the full Senate to vote. Collins justified her vote, saying, "Presidents are entitled to considerable deference in the selection of Cabinet members." Later, she and Murkowski were the only Republicans to break party lines and vote against DeVos's confirmation. This caused a 50–50 tie that was broken by Senate President Mike Pence to confirm DeVos.

In March 2017, Collins said she could not support the American Health Care Act, the House Republicans' plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. She announced she would vote against the Senate version of the Republican bill to repeal Obamacare. Collins also clarified that she opposed repealing the ACA without a replacement proposal. On July 26, Collins was one of seven Republicans in voting against repealing the ACA without a suitable replacement. On July 27, she joined two other Republicans in voting against the "skinny" repeal of the ACA. In October, Collins called on Trump to support a bipartisan Congressional effort led by Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray to reinstate insurer payments, saying that what Trump was doing was "affecting people's access and the cost of health care right now".

On December 14, 2017, the day the FCC was set to hold a vote on net neutrality, Collins and King sent the FCC a letter asking that the vote be postponed to allow public hearings on the merits of repealing net neutrality. They expressed concerns that repealing net neutrality could adversely affect the U.S. economy. As part of this drive, Collins is reported to support using the authority under the Congressional Review Act to nullify the FCC's repeal vote. In 2018, Collins was one of three Republicans voting with Democrats to repeal rule changes enacted by the Republican-controlled FCC. The measure was meant to restore Obama-era net neutrality rules.

In 2017, The Lugar Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit founded by Senator Richard Lugar, released a bipartisan index in cooperation with Georgetown University that ranked Collins the most bipartisan senator during the first session of the 115th Congress (and the only U.S. Senator from the Northeast ranked among the top 10 most bipartisan senators).

In January 2018, in response to the Trump administration's not implementing congressionally approved sanctions on Russia, Collins said it was confirmed Russia had tried to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, adding, "not only should there be a price to pay in terms of sanctions, but also we need to put safeguards in place right now for the elections for this year." She noted that the legislation received bipartisan support and predicted Russia would also attempt to interfere in the 2018 elections. In January 2019, Collins was one of 11 Republican senators to vote to advance legislation intended to block Trump from lifting sanctions on three Russian companies. She said she disagreed with "the easing of the sanctions because I think it sends the wrong message to Russia and to the oligarch and close ally of Mr. Putin, Oleg Deripaska, who will in my judgment continue to maintain considerable [ownership] under the Treasury's plan."

In 2018, Collins and Senators Tim Kaine, Catherine Cortez Masto, and Shelley Moore Capito authored the Building Our Largest Dementia (BOLD) Infrastructure for Alzheimer's Act, legislation centered on providing a public health approach to Alzheimer's. The bill would authorize $20   million annually to establish the "Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias Public Health Centers of Excellence" and aid statewide efforts to promote brain health and reduce cognitive decline. It passed the Senate and House and was signed by Trump in January 2019.

In September 2018, Collins authored two bills as part of the Opioid Crisis Response Act, a bipartisan package of 70 Senate bills that would alter programs across multiple agencies in an effort to prevent opioids from being shipped through the U.S. Postal Service and grant doctors the ability to prescribe medications designed to wean opioid addictions. The bills passed 99 to 1.

In February 2019, Collins was one of five senators to sponsor legislation authorizing the Treasury Department to mint coins honoring George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush under the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005 and introduced the Reviving America's Scenic Byways Act of 2019 along with Ben Cardin. The bill required the Secretary of Transportation to request nominations and make determinations in regard to roads that would be designed under a voluntary, community-based program and was signed into law by Trump in September of that year. After the Senate Intelligence Committee held a closed-door meeting with Michael Cohen, Collins said senators "clearly need to re-interview some witnesses whose accounts [Cohen] contradicts". Her comment was seen as hinting at the Intelligence Committee's interest in speaking with Donald Trump Jr. again. In June, Collins cosponsored an amendment to form the John S. McCain   III Human Rights Commission, which would hold hearings and briefings on human rights violations ahead of collaborations with the Trump administration to address the violations, and be included in a defense authorization bill McCain had helped create as Armed Services Committee chairman.

In her May 2019 commencement speech at Maine Maritime Academy, Collins said getting the Senate to approve funding for a new training ship for the academy was her "number one priority" and that funding was included in Trump's proposed budget while she would still seek further funds through other measures.

In July 2019, Collins cosponsored the Fallen Journalists Memorial Act, a bill introduced by Ben Cardin and Rob Portman that would create a new, privately funded memorial that would be constructed on federal lands in Washington, D.C. in order to honor journalists, photographers, and broadcasters who died in the line of duty. Collins called freedom of the press "one of our fundamental constitutional rights" and spoke of the risks of reprisals faced by reporters around the world for their work.

In February 2020, Collins voted "not guilty" on both articles in the first impeachment trial of Donald Trump.

On October 26, 2020, Collins was the only Republican senator to vote against the confirmation of Trump's nominee Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Barrett was confirmed by a vote of 52–48.

Fifth term
On January 6, 2021, Collins was participating in the certification of the Electoral College vote count when Trump supporters attacked the United States Capitol. She was on the Senate floor listening to speeches related to the objection to counting Arizona's votes when the Sergeant at Arms of the U.S. Senate and U.S. Capitol Police removed Vice President Mike Pence and Senators Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer. She called the experience "frightening and appalling." Collins later called the attack "a dangerous, shameful, and outrageous attack on our democracy" and blamed Trump for "working up the crowd and inciting this mob". She called on him to call off the rioters. When Congress reconvened after the Capitol was secure, Collins voted to certify the count.

Toward the end of January 2021, Collins led a group of 10 Republican senators who requested that President Joe Biden join bipartisan negotiations when creating his COVID-19 economic relief package. After meeting with the group, Biden opted to pass his relief package using the reconciliation process, for which he did not need Republican support.

On February 13, 2021, Collins was one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial.

Political analysis website FiveThirtyEight found that Collins had voted in line with President Joe Biden around 67% of the time in the 117th Congress.

On May 18, 2021, Axios revealed the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigation of defense contractor Martin Kao, former CEO of Navatek, who funneled $150,000 to a pro-Collins super PAC, 1820PAC, via a shell LLC, Society for Young Women Scientists and Engineers, as a federal contractor, and reimbursed donations to the Collins 2020 campaign, both of which are illegal. A spokesperson said that the campaign had no knowledge of the exchange.

Collins cast her 8,000th consecutive roll call vote on October 28, 2021; only Chuck Grassley and William Proxmire have set longer streaks. On April 19, 2024, the Senate recognized her 9,000th vote that night, surpassing Grassley's 8,927-vote streak earlier in March.

Collins voted to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, making her one of the only three GOP senators to support her nomination, the other two being Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney.

Committee assignments
Collins's committee assignments for the 118th Congress are as follows:
 * Committee on Appropriations (Vice Chair)
 * In addition to the below, as Vice Chair, Collins is an ex officio member of all subcommittees.
 * Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies
 * Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
 * Subcommittee on Defense (Ranking Member)
 * Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies
 * Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
 * Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
 * Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security
 * Select Committee on Intelligence

Caucus memberships

 * Afterschool Caucuses
 * Republican Main Street Partnership
 * Congressional Coalition on Adoption

Political positions

Collins has been described as a moderate Republican and a centrist, having voted with her party 59% of the time from 1997 to 2016. She voted with her party more often, about 87% of the time, in 2017, at the beginning of the Trump administration.

In 2013, Collins sided with Obama's position 75.9% of the time, one of only two Republicans to vote with him more than 70% of the time. As of January 2021, according to FiveThirtyEight, she had voted with Trump's positions about 65% of the time, the lowest among all Republican senators. During Trump's presidency she voted with the Republican majority on party-line votes much more often than during Obama's presidency. According to FiveThirtyEight, as of January 2023, she had voted with Biden's position about 67% of the time.

Collins voted to acquit Trump of all charges at his first impeachment trial. She said she did not think Trump's request that the Ukrainian President announce an investigation into Joe Biden met the "high bar" for "removing a duly elected president". She said Trump had "learned from this case" and "will be much more cautious in the future." Shortly after his acquittal, Trump fired witnesses in the impeachment inquiry. In the following months, he fired inspectors general of the State Department and the intelligence community. Collins criticized the firing, provoking a retaliatory response from Trump.

On February 13, 2021, Collins was one of the seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial. On May 27, 2021, along with five other Republicans and all present Democrats, she voted to establish a bipartisan commission to investigate the Capitol attack. She had amended the bill in the hopes of drawing sufficient Republicans to support it, but the vote failed for lack of 60 required "yes" votes to prevent a filibuster.

Abortion
Collins is one of two Republican U.S. Senators, along with Lisa Murkowski, who describe themselves as pro-choice, or pro-abortion rights, and supported Roe v. Wade.

According to HuffPost, Collins has repeatedly voted to confirm judges who have signaled opposition to abortion rights. She has defended these votes by citing her support for both of Obama's Supreme Court appointments. She voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, saying she did not believe he would overturn Roe. She said she felt "vindication" in 2018 when Kavanaugh voted with the court's four Democratic-appointed justices and Chief Justice John Roberts not to hear cases against Planned Parenthood from Kansas and Louisiana, although Planned Parenthood disagreed with her assessment of the situation. In 2020, Collins faced renewed criticism of her vote by progressive groups when Kavanaugh said states should be permitted to severely reduce access to and availability of abortion in his dissent in June Medical Services LLC v Russo.

In 2021, Collins was one of three Republican senators to decline to sign an amicus brief supporting an anti-abortion Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. She faced renewed criticism after Kavanaugh voted with the majority, in a 5–4 vote, to reject an emergency petition to block a Texas law banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy; the law went into effect while facing continued challenges in the courts. Responding to the legislation and criticism, Collins denounced the Texas anti-abortion law as "extreme, inhumane, and unconstitutional" and said she supports the Roe precedent as the "law of the land".

In 2022, Collins received additional criticism for her support of Kavanaugh after a leaked draft of the Supreme Court opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization indicated the Court would overturn Roe v. Wade, with Kavanaugh breaking with his statements that Roe was "settled law". She has also received criticism for calling the police in reaction to chalk protests due to her votes to confirm justices involved in the draft ruling.

On May 11, 2022, Collins voted against the Women's Health Protection Act of 2022, a bill that would prohibit a variety of restrictions on access to abortion, on the basis that it went too far beyond the standards established in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Collins joined Murkowski and Senator Kyrsten Sinema in drafting the Reproductive Choice Act, alternative legislation that would codify Roe and Casey into federal law more narrowly.

Economy
In 2004, Collins expressed concerns about how the Bush administration wanted to implement its proposed plan to cut taxes. She cited deficit concerns as a reason for opposing the plan, but ultimately voted in favor of the Bush tax cuts in 2003 and for their extension in 2006. Collins was one of just three Republican lawmakers to vote for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, prompting heated criticism from the right for crossing party lines.

In December 2017, Collins voted to pass the 2017 Republican tax plan. The bill greatly reduces corporate taxes while reducing taxes for some individuals and increasing them for others by removing some popular deductions. The bill also repeals Affordable Care Act's individual mandate, leaving thirteen million Americans uninsured and raising premiums by an estimated additional 10% per year. After the vote, Collins said she received assurances from congressional leaders that they would pass legislation intended to mitigate some of the adverse effects of the individual mandate's repeal. When asked how she could vote for a bill that would increase the deficit by an estimated $1   trillion (over ten years) after having railed against the deficit during the Obama administration, Collins insisted that it would not increase the deficit. She said she had been advised in this determination by economists Glenn Hubbard, Larry Lindsey, and Douglas Holtz-Eakin. Conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin wrote that Hubbard and Holtz-Eakin denied saying the plan would not increase the deficit.

After voting for the tax plan, Collins became the top recipient of political donations from private equity firms. Blackstone chief executive Steven Schwarzman donated $2 million to Collins's PAC, and Ken Griffin of the hedge fund Citadel donated $1.5 million.

Along with all other Senate and House Republicans, Collins voted against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. On September 30, 2021, she was one of 15 Senate Republicans to join all Democrats and both Independents to approve a temporary spending bill to continue government funding and avoid a government shutdown. On October 7, 2021, she voted with 10 other Republicans and all members of the Democratic caucus to break the filibuster on raising the debt ceiling. She voted with all Republicans against the legislation to raise the debt ceiling.

Environment
In 2008, Collins joined the bipartisan Gang of 20, which sought to break a deadlock on a bill allowing offshore drilling that would devote billions in proceeds to renewable energy development.

In February 2017, Collins was the only Republican to vote against undoing an Obama administration rule that required coal mining companies to avoid contaminating local waterways. She was the only Republican to vote against the confirmation of Scott Pruitt, and later Andrew Wheeler, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

In 2017, Collins voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, allowing oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, after unsuccessfully attempting to remove that part of the bill.

As of 2022, Collins has a lifetime score of 60% from the League of Conservation Voters, the highest of any incumbent Senate Republican.

Foreign policy and national security
In 2003, Collins voted in favor of the Iraq War Resolution authorizing President Bush to go to war against Iraq. In November 2007, she was one of four Republicans to vote for a Democratic proposal of $50   billion that would condition further spending on a timeline for withdrawing troops, mandating that a withdrawal begin 30 days after the bill was enacted as part of a goal of removing all U.S. troops in Iraq by December 15, 2008. The bill failed to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. In April 2008, Collins and Senators Ben Nelson and Evan Bayh met with Bush's advisor on Iraq and Afghanistan, Douglas Lute, and expressed support for a prohibition on spending for major reconstruction projects, the proposal requiring Iraqis to pay for its security forces to be trained and equipped and reimburse the American military for the estimated $153   million a month the military spent on fueling in combat operations in Iraq. Collins said after the meeting that while the administration did not have a view entirely similar to the senators', it at least seemed open to their proposal. In June 2014, while growing violence erupted in Iraq under the leadership of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Collins said the violence would have been slower had a residual NATO force been present in Iraq and that the question was whether airstrikes were effective.

In September 2009, Collins said she was unsure whether sending more American troops to Afghanistan would help end the Afghanistan War, but cited the need for "more American civilians to help build up institutions" and growth of the Afghan army. In 2010, she called for the removal of Arnold Fields as Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, citing his repeated expressing of concern for the SIGAR and his disappointment with the Obama administration's "ongoing failure to take decisive action". In August 2017, Collins commended Trump for providing clarity after years of the U.S. lacking a "clear focus and defined strategy" with respect to Afghanistan and said he made the case that the Afghan government must participate "in defending its people, ending havens for terrorists, and curtailing corruption".

Before Obama met President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping at an informal retreat in June 2013, Collins cosponsored legislation that would authorize the Commerce Department to investigate whether currency manipulation is a form of subsidization. In April 2018, she said the U.S. needed "a more nuanced approach" in dealing with China but gave Trump "credit for levying these tariffs against the Chinese, with whom we've talked for a decade about their unfair trade practices and their theft of intellectual property from American firms", adding that while the U.S. needed to toughen its stance against China, it would need to do this in a manner that did not create "a trade war and retaliation that will end up with our European and Asian competitors getting business that otherwise would have come to American farmers".

In March 2015, Collins was one of seven Senate Republicans not to sign a March 2015 letter to the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran attempting to cast doubt on the Obama administration's authority to engage in nuclear-proliferation negotiations with Iran. She announced her opposition to the Iran nuclear agreement later that year, saying it was "fundamentally flawed because it leaves Iran as capable of building a nuclear weapon at the expiration of the agreement as it is today", and predicted Iran "will be a more dangerous and stronger nuclear threshold state" after the agreement expires. In June 2019, after the United States nearly launched an airstrike on Iran after Iran downed an American surveillance drone, Collins said the U.S. could not "allow Iran to continue to launch this kind of attack" but warned that miscalculations by either side "could lead to a war in the Middle East".

In March 2017, Collins co-sponsored the Israel Anti-Boycott Act (S.270), which made it a federal crime, punishable by a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment, for Americans to encourage or participate in boycotts against Israel and Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories if protesting actions by the Israeli government.

In March 2018, Collins was one of five Republican senators to vote against tabling a resolution that would cease the U.S. military's support for Saudi Arabia's bombing operations in Yemen. In December, she was one of seven Republican senators to vote for the resolution withdrawing American armed forces' support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen and an amendment by Todd Young ensuring midair refueling between American and Saudi Air Force did not resume. Collins was one of seven Republicans to vote to end U.S. support for the war in Yemen in February 2019, and, in May 2019, she was one of seven Republicans to vote to override Trump's veto of the resolution on Yemen. In June 2019, Collins was one of seven Republicans to vote to block Trump's Saudi arms deal providing weapons to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Jordan and one of five Republicans to vote against an additional 20 arms sales.

In May 2020, Collins voted to confirm U.S. Representative John Ratcliffe as Director of National Intelligence. In 2019, there was bipartisan opposition to Ratcliffe's nomination. The Washington Post called Collins's support for Ratcliffe "key" to his 2020 confirmation.

Gun policy
Collins voted for the Manchin–Toomey bill to amend federal law to expand background checks for gun purchases. She voted against a ban on high-capacity (more than ten rounds) magazines. In 2014 she received a "C" grade on gun rights from the NRA Political Victory Fund, rising to a "B" rating in 2020. She received a D− from Gun Owners of America in 2012.

In 2018, Collins co-sponsored the NICS Denial Notification Act, legislation developed in the aftermath of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that would require federal authorities to inform states within a day after a person failing the National Instant Criminal Background Check System attempted to buy a firearm.

In February 2019, Collins supported the Terrorist Firearms Prevention Act, legislation enabling the attorney general to deny the sale of a firearm to people on the no-fly list or selectee list. It passed the House but failed to advance in the Senate.

In 2020, Gun Owners of Maine gave Collins a B rating, writing, "On 2nd Amendment issues, Susan Collins generally stands with gun owners. She has opposed magazine capacity restrictions and voted to prohibit lawsuits against gun manufacturers for crimes committed with guns."

In 2022, Collins became one of ten Republican senators to support a bipartisan agreement on gun control, which included a red flag provision, a support for state crisis intervention orders, funding for school safety resources, stronger background checks for buyers under the age of 21, and penalties for straw purchases.

Health care
In May 2017, Collins was one of six senators to introduce the Medicaid Coverage for Addiction Recovery Expansion Act, legislation that would allow treatment facilities with up to 40 beds reimbursement by Medicaid for 60 consecutive days of inpatient services and serve as a modification of the Medicaid Institutions for Mental Disease law, which authorized Medicaid coverage only for facilities with 16 or fewer beds.

Though she voted against the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), Collins (along with fellow Republicans John McCain and Lisa Murkowski) voted against an unsuccessful "skinny repeal" attempt in July 2017. Later that year, she voted with Republican senators to repeal the individual mandate of the ACA. The absence of the individual mandate weakened the ACA's legal stability, leading the Trump administration in 2020 to seek to have the ACA ruled unconstitutional by the courts (in a 5–4 Supreme Court decision in 2012, Chief Justice Roberts upheld the ACA by citing the individual mandate). The ACA remained intact, despite the lack of the individual mandate, following a 7-2 Supreme Court decision to reject a challenge to the law.

In December 2017, Collins was one of nine senators to sign a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer describing opioid use as a nonpartisan issue that was "ravaging communities in every state and preys upon individuals and families regardless of party affiliation" and requesting that they "make every effort to ensure that new, substantial and sustained funding for the opioid epidemic is included in any legislative package".

In April 2019, Collins cosponsored the Protecting Jessica Grubb's Legacy Act, legislation that authorized the sharing of the medical records of patients being treated for substance use disorder among healthcare providers if the patient provided the information. Cosponsor Shelley Moore Capito said the bill also prevented medical providers from unintentionally providing opioids to individuals in recovery.

Immigration
In 2007, Collins voted against the bipartisan McCain-Kennedy comprehensive immigration reform proposal, which would have given undocumented immigrants (including those brought into the United States as minors) a pathway to citizenship if they met certain requirements, while also substantially increasing border enforcement. In 2010, she voted against the DREAM Act. In 2013, Collins was one of 14 Republicans to vote in favor of a comprehensive immigration bill that included border security and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. She opposed Obama's decision to achieve immigration reform through executive action, which gave deportation relief to as many as five million undocumented immigrants through Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

In 2017, Collins opposed Trump's executive order to ban entry to the U.S. by citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, saying, "The worldwide refugee ban set forth in the executive order is overly broad and implementing it will be immediately problematic." In 2019, she introduced bipartisan legislation to oppose Trump's declaration emergency at the southern border in order to build a wall. She was one of a dozen Republicans who broke with their party, joining all Democrats, to vote for the resolution rejecting the emergency declaration. In September 2019, she again voted with 10 other Republicans to overturn Trump's emergency declaration on the border.

LGBTQ policy
In 2004, Collins was one of six Republicans who voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment, a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would ban same-sex marriage. She voted in favor of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 and was the primary Republican sponsor of the repeal effort. In 2015, she was one of 11 Republican senators to vote to give Social Security benefits to same-sex couples in states where same-sex marriage was not yet recognized.

In 2017 and 2019, Collins co-sponsored bills with Democratic senators to prevent Trump from banning transgender people from the United States military and prohibit anti-LGBT housing discrimination. She was the only Republican co-sponsor of the Equality Act, which aims to comprehensively prohibit LGBT discrimination. In February 2021, Collins announced she would no longer co-sponsor the bill over amendments that were not made.

In 2021, Collins was one of 49 senators to vote for an amendment to the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which aimed to defund schools allowing transgender students to compete in sports.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), which rates politicians' support for LGBT issues, gave Collins a score of 85% during the 114th Congress (2015–17), and a score of 33% during the 115th Congress (2017–19). She received a 49% score in the 116th Congress. In 2020, the HRC endorsed an opponent of Collins for the first time since 1996, citing her votes for judicial nominees, particularly Brett Kavanaugh. In 2022, Collins was one of 12 Republicans in the Senate voting to advance and pass the Respect for Marriage Act, legislation intended to codify same-sex marriage rights into federal law.

Net neutrality
Collins strongly supports FCC Open Internet Order 2010. After former Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai repealed net neutrality regulations in 2017, Collins and Senator Angus King announced they would support a bipartisan enactment of the Congressional Review Act to reverse the FCC's decision. In another statement, Collins argued that net neutrality regulations would help rural communities obtain access to the internet and that the regulations strengthened consumer privacy protections, citing the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal for failing to protect consumers' privacy.

United States Postal Service
In 2006, Collins sponsored the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, which passed the Senate unanimously. It requires the USPS to prepay 50 years' worth of employee health and retirement benefits. Since the act passed, the USPS has defaulted on payments.

Honors and awards
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a lobbying group, awarded Collins the 2013 Spirit of Enterprise Award for her support of its positions.

On May 7, 2014, The National Journal recognized Collins as the senator with "perfect attendance", noting that she had not missed a single vote since her election to the Senate in 1997.

In 2014, Elle magazine named Collins one of its "10 Most Powerful Women in D.C".

Collins received the Publius Award from the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress on March 12, 2014.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars gave Collins its 2017 Congressional Award, which is annually given to one member of Congress for their significant legislative contributions on behalf of military veterans.

In 2022, Collins received the Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award.

Personal life
Collins is married to Thomas Daffron, a lobbyist who worked as chief operating officer at Jefferson Consulting Group in Washington, D.C. from 2006 to 2016; he consulted on Collins's 1996, 2002 and 2008 Senate campaigns. They were married on August 11, 2012, at the Gray Memorial United Methodist Church in Caribou, Maine. Collins is Roman Catholic.

Electoral history
Collins has been on the general-election ballot six times in Maine: once for governor, five times for U.S. senator. She has been defeated just once, in her 1994 campaign for governor.

title: Susan Collins


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