参议员苏珊·柯林斯（R-缅因州）对她投票支持罗伯特·F·肯尼迪 Jr. 确认担任卫生与公众服务部（HHS）部长一事并不感到后悔，并在周四的辩论中重申了她的立场。
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) does not regret voting for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation as secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), reaffirming her position in a Thursday debate.
“我在某些问题上同意他的观点，在其他问题上则不同意，”柯林斯说。“他在加速低收入人群饮食援助计划的发布方面非常有帮助。”柯林斯正陷入与前州参议员特洛伊·杰克逊（D-缅因州）的艰难连任竞争之中，她因在可能影响选举结果时未能站出来反对特朗普总统而受到民主党的批评。《纽约时报》最近的一项分析发现，当柯林斯在特朗普第二个任期内投反对票时，她的立场仅有15%的情况下得以实现。
“I agree with him on some issues, I don’t with others,” Collins said. “He was very helpful in expediting the release of the low-income eating assistance program.”Collins, locked in a tough reelection battle with former state Sen. Troy Jackson (D), has been criticized by Democrats for not standing up to President Trump when it could affect the outcome. A New York Times analysis recently found that when Collins votes against the president in his second term, her outcome has prevailed just 15 percent of the time.
虽然这对大多数寻求连任的共和党参议员来说可能不是问题，但在缅因州这样的蓝色州却很重要——该州在2024年曾以七个百分点支持前副总统哈里斯，而柯林斯则将她的连任竞争建立在同时反对两党的基础上。
While that may not be an issue for most Republican senators running for reelection, it matters in a blue state like Maine, which backed former Vice President Harris by seven points in 2024 and where Collins has staked her reelection bid on standing up to both parties.
肯尼迪在成为卫生与公众服务部部长的确认过程中经历了漫长的斗争，这源于他过去在疫苗和医学方面的有争议言论。
Kennedy had a drawn-out confirmation battle to become HHS secretary, driven by his past controversial statements on vaccines and medicine.
自被确认以来，肯尼迪解雇了疫苗专家，并修改了联邦关于疫苗的指导方针。柯林斯曾公开反对其中的一些举措，称肯尼迪解雇整个疾病控制与预防中心（CDC）疫苗小组的行为是“过度的”。柯林斯和肯尼迪还因卫生与公众服务部削减艾滋病/HIV疫苗资金而发生冲突，而柯林斯支持这些资金。
Since being confirmed, Kennedy has fired vaccine experts and changed federal guidance on vaccines. Collins spoke out against some of those moves, calling Kennedy’s firing of the entire Centers for Disease Control (CDC) vaccine panel “excessive,” Collins and Kennedy also clashed over HHS cuts to vaccine funding for HIV/AIDS, which Collins supports.
主持人挑战柯林斯指出她曾反对总统且该反对影响了结果的一次具体时刻。柯林斯提到她曾动员参议员反对国防部长皮特·赫格塞思的确认，但最终未成功。
Moderators challenged Collins to name a time when she opposed the president and it affected the outcome. Collins mentioned that she rallied senators to oppose Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s confirmation, but that it was unsuccessful in the end.
“有一些这样的例子。当时，我组织人们投票反对赫格塞思部长，”柯林斯说。“就在最后一刻，就在最后一刻，我们的一位共和党人改变了主意。”“所以那并没有改变结果，”主持人回答道。杰克逊用这句话攻击柯林斯。
“There are several examples of that. At one point, I had organized people to vote against Secretary Hegseth,” Collins said. “At the very last minute, at the very last minute, one of our Republicans changed his mind.”“So that didn’t change the outcome,” the moderator replied. Jackson used the comment to attack Collins.
“事实是，100%的时间里，当唐纳德·特朗普需要她时，苏珊·柯林斯就会在那里，”杰克逊说。
“The reality is that 100 percent of the time, when Donald Trump needs her, Susan Collins is going to be there,” Jackson said.