On July 1, 2025, Susan Collins voted against an amendment to keep wind and solar projects on equal footing for clean-energy tax credits in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. In February and March 2025 she voted against amendments to rehire fired federal land-agency workers and to reinstate veterans dismissed from federal jobs without cause.
Collins voted to confirm Budget Director Russell Vought, whose office directed federal job cuts; Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, whose tariffs remain in force; and the homeland security officials behind the $100,000 H-1B visa fee.
Susan Collins's Votes on Jobs, Federal Workers and Economic Policy Officials
- Collins Voted Against Keeping Wind and Solar Tax Credits on Equal Terms in July 2025. On July 1, 2025, Susan Collins voted no on an amendment "to maintain parity for wind and solar facilities" in the clean-energy tax credits of H.R. 1, and all 53 Republicans voted no. Energy Innovation projects the law and related federal energy actions will cost Maine 1,000 jobs a year over the next decade and raise household energy costs.
- Collins Voted Against Rehiring Fired Federal Workers in Early 2025. On February 20, 2025, Collins voted no on a budget amendment for reinstating fired employees of the Forest Service, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management, and on March 14, 2025 she voted no on making veterans dismissed from federal jobs without cause eligible for reinstatement. Federal payroll employment has fallen by 336,000 since January 2025.
- Collins Voted to Confirm the Budget Director Who Directed Federal Job Cuts. On February 6, 2025, Collins voted to confirm Russell Vought as director of the Office of Management and Budget, and he was confirmed 53 to 47 with no Republican opposed. His office directed the federal job cuts counted in that decline.
- Collins Voted to Confirm the Trade Officials Whose Tariffs Remain in Force. Collins voted to confirm Howard Lutnick as Commerce Secretary on February 18, 2025 and Jamieson Greer as trade representative on February 26, 2025. Greer's office imposed 10 or 12.5 percent tariffs on 60 economies in July 2026, and more than four in ten small employers reported tariff costs as a financial challenge in the Federal Reserve's 2026 small business survey.
- Collins Voted to Confirm the Officials Who Ran the $100,000 H-1B Fee and the New Visa Lottery. Collins voted to confirm Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary on January 25, 2025 and Joseph Edlow as director of Citizenship and Immigration Services on July 15, 2025. Their agencies enforced a $100,000 payment on new H-1B petitions from September 2025 until a federal judge struck it down on June 8, 2026, and adopted a wage-weighted lottery, still in force, that DHS estimates will cut entry-level H-1B petitions by 10,099 a year.
What Susan Collins's Votes on Energy Credits, Tariff Officials and Visa Limits Mean for Maine Jobs
- Energy jobs and bills. Energy Innovation projects that federal policy decisions made since January 2025, including the 2025 law, will cost Maine 1,000 jobs a year over the next decade, and that Maine households will pay an average of $320 more for energy in 2035.
- Tariff exposure. Maine's State Economist wrote in May 2026 that the state "may be particularly vulnerable to changes in federal funding and tariff policy."
- Research jobs. The Jackson Laboratory, the state's largest employer of H-1B workers, faced the $100,000 fee on new visa petitions while it was in force from September 2025 to June 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions About Susan Collins on Economy and jobs
What is Susan Collins's record on the economy and jobs under Trump?
Susan Collins voted on July 1, 2025 against keeping wind and solar tax credits on equal terms and in early 2025 against rehiring fired federal land-agency workers. She voted to confirm Budget Director Russell Vought, whose office directed federal job cuts, and the trade officials whose tariffs remain in force. She also voted to confirm Kristi Noem and Joseph Edlow, whose agencies ran the H-1B fee and the new visa lottery.
Did Susan Collins vote to confirm the officials behind the $100,000 H-1B visa fee?
Yes. Susan Collins voted to confirm Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary and Joseph Edlow as director of Citizenship and Immigration Services. A federal appeals court kept in place the June 2026 ruling that struck down the fee, but the wage-weighted visa lottery their agencies adopted remains in force.
How did Susan Collins vote on rehiring fired federal workers?
Susan Collins voted on February 20, 2025 against a budget amendment for reinstating fired Forest Service, Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management employees. On March 14, 2025 she voted against an amendment to make veterans fired without cause from federal jobs eligible for reinstatement, and both failed.
Last updated: 2026-10-25