“Susan Collins” on The Daily Caller

Denise Austin and Napoleon Dynamite can breathe a sigh of relief this morning: The U.S. Senate has taken action to save their favorite food from the Obama administration’s health initiatives. (more)

French fries may soon be bullied out of school cafeterias if the government gets its way, but Big Tater isn’t backing down. (more)

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine.) said Friday that she will not support the 2012 budget passed by the House last week. (more)

Republicans on the Hill are taking President Obama’s nominee for deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as a sign the White House is not serious about cutting spending. (more)

Congress is poised to decide whether aggressive, bold education reform in the District of Columbia will continue at an accelerated pace, or whether the interests of adults will trump the best interests of students. The time has come to put aside the needs of special interests and do what’s right for children — right now and by any means necessary. (more)

Sponsors of legislation that would give the president the authority to shut down the Internet during a national emergency are coming out to defend their bill in the face of criticism that the bill is a threat to free speech. (more)

South Carolina Republican and conservative firebrand Sen. Jim DeMint introduced legislation to repeal Obamacare on Wednesday, the first official step in bringing the House-passed repeal bill fight into the staid upper chamber. (more)

A key Republican senator whose vote is being sought by the White House to ensure passage of a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia said Tuesday the agreement will be ratified by the Senate. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is poised to approve a nuclear arms pact with Russia, handing President Barack Obama a huge victory on his top foreign policy priority. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama lobbied senators by phone Monday to back an arms treaty with Russia that he’s called a national security imperative, as a top Senate Democrat conceded “house by house combat” would be needed to win enough GOP votes to prevail. (more)

Senate Republicans bound together last night to defeat the infamous omnibus pork spending bill, all fat-infested $1.1 trillion of it. (more)

Repeal of the military’s ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ policy appears to be a lock. With four moderate Senate Republicans planning to vote for repeal, supporters now have 61 votes — more than the majority needed for passage and enough to to prevent a filibuster. But opponents are going into hyper-drive, attempting to stop what now appears to be inevitable. (more)

WASHINGTON – Republican senators were so worried about meeting with 9/11 responders who came here Thursday that at least one called the cops on them, the Daily News has learned. (more)

Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown today voiced his support for a stand-alone repeal of the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, bringing the bill one vote over the 60-vote threshold that it will need to reach if and when the Senate votes on the measure in the coming weeks. (more)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Three military veterans who were discharged under the law that prohibits gays from serving openly in uniform sued the government Monday to be reinstated and to pressure lawmakers to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law before a new Congress is sworn in. (more)

Add one more layer of drama to the debate over “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Advocates of a bill that would overturn the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy say their fight for repeal this year is far from over despite a failing Senate vote this week and only days left in the lame-duck session. (more)

Hours before the Senate was to vote on a repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that would allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military, Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins, a proponent of repeal but also a politician, made Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid an offer: Hold off on the vote, and you’ll have my support. (more)

The Senate postponed a vote on the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal after Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the chief GOP negotiator, asked for a delay. (more)

How do we get beyond the inflammatory and self-defeating polemics of our current immigration debate?  Sadly, the new Congress is shaping up to be just as divisive and deadlocked as the last one. (more)