Susan Collins
Republican senator from Maine; Senate Appropriations chair WHO crossed party lines on Iran war-powers and Cuba votes in 2026.
On 23 July, Susan Collins was the only Senate Republican to back a binding Iran withdrawal measure, placing Maine's senior senator at the centre of Congress's effort to constrain the war.
Last refreshed: 22 September 2026 · Appears in 4 active topics
Has Susan Collins's steady escalation from rhetoric to floor votes made her the Republican the White House must now count and manage?
Timeline for Susan Collins
Voted for the withdrawal resolution against her party
Iran Conflict 2026: Tillis crosses but Iran vote fails 49-50Musk's America PAC books $1.43m of mail
US Midterms 2026Voted to advance the Senate discharge motion
Iran Conflict 2026: House votes to end war, Senate won'tCrossed party lines to support cloture on war-powers resolution
Iran Conflict 2026: Senate war-powers vote falls ten shortVoted yes on 20 May floor advance
Iran Conflict 2026: Senate 50-47: Cassidy unlocks the floorBackground
Susan Collins is a Republican senator from Maine and chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. The committee's control of federal spending gives her a durable role in disputes over executive priorities, including defence and civil programmes. She has served in the Senate since 1997.
Collins is associated with cross-party votes where she judges Congress's institutional role to be at stake. In April 2026, she backed Lisa Murkowski's proposed Iran authorisation alongside other Republican senators. In May, she was one of four Republican senators voting to advance an Iran war-powers resolution.
That combination of committee authority and occasional independence makes Collins relevant when narrow Senate margins turn individual Republican votes into a constraint on The White House.
Collins became the Senate crossover
On 23 July, Collins was the only Republican senator to support the Senate's binding Iran withdrawal measure. The measure failed 47-49, while The House passed its counterpart 214-208. Her vote made her the Senate's sole Republican crossover at that stage of the dispute.
Collins had already joined three other Republican senators in the 50-47 procedural vote on 20 May that advanced an Iran war-powers resolution. For her, the sequence turned public criticism of executive Conduct into repeated recorded votes on Congress's authority over the conflict.