Senator Susan Collins knew her health care deal with Senator Mitch McConnell, to stabilize the Obamacare markets in return for her GOP Tax Scam vote, was nixed by VP Mike Pence prior to her vote.

Before the vote. Pence was under pressure by anti-abortion activists. It didn’t take very much pressure to nix the deal, since Pence is a passionate anti-abortionist.

Collins was not betrayed.

Collins was not tricked.

Collins was not lied to.

The fact is:

Senator Collins knew her Obamacare deal was dead before the vote and she still voted for the Republican Tax Scam. No real surprise here, but from now until 2020 Mainers need to be constantly reminded of Collins’ betrayal.

Mike Pence seems to be the reason that Susan Collins' deal and Flake's deal both changed at the last minute. And their deals changed because of another issue I didn't see coming, abortion. Susan Collins wanted that Obamacare fix. At the eleventh hour, these antiabortion activists met up with Mike Pence because they heard about Susan Collins' Obamacare fix. They thought it would result in federal dollars going towards abortions. They did not like that. Mike Pence is passionately, vigorously against abortion. That is his big issue. Pence then met with Collins. As best I can tell, this meeting changed things for Collins' deal. And she was unhappy about it. And in fact, the provision she wanted did get kicked down the road. After all that, McConnell's office wanted to be absolutely certain of every Republican vote because they'd been burned by a defection just three weeks before. So McConnell made a game-time decision to call Flake and give him what he wanted with DACA.

x This also lays bare the GOP lie that Democrats raised the abortion issue at the last minute. Pence killed ACA stabilization even before the tax vote!!! Hold them accountable. — Topher Spiro (@TopherSpiro) April 10, 2018