By Michael Shepherd
Bangor Daily News, Maine
(TNS)
Oct. 14 — U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said Wednesday that a bipartisan group of financial experts, potentially led by former U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, should recommend how to shore up Social Security days after she said high earners should pay more into the program.
“I believe that we should appoint a bipartisan group of financial experts that would be headed by someone like Mitt Romney, who has a lot of expertise and could give us recommendations of what should be done,” Collins told reporters after she was endorsed by the Maine Fraternal Order of Police in Bangor.
The comments were her first since last week’s debate on WMTW, when Collins said the cap on income subject to Social Security taxes should be “adjusted.” That broke from most Republicans, and it came hours after NBC News said her campaign stated no position on the idea and pointed to her support for a commission.
Collins, a Republican seeking a sixth term in a pivotal November race with Democrat Troy Jackson, did not say whether she would lift the $184,500 cap entirely, raise it or tax income above a higher threshold. She said a movie star earning $40 million a year shouldn’t pay the same in Social Security taxes as someone at the cap, adding one caution.
“Now we have to be careful about how small businesses are treated, and this is going to take some work to make sure that we do it correctly,” she said, adding that “there’s all different ways that it can be structured.”
Romney, a Utah Republican who left the Senate in January 2025, a former Massachusetts governor and the 2012 presidential nominee, pushed for a bipartisan fiscal commission to tackle the national debt and entitlement programs while in office. Social Security’s trust fund is projected to run short in late 2032, which would trigger an automatic 22% cut in benefits unless Congress acts.
Jackson, a former Maine Senate president from Allagash, wants to scrap the Social Security cap and use the money to expand benefits. Jackson said in Thursday’s debate Collins had “rejected time and time again” changing the cap.
“Troy is committed to protecting Social Security from cuts and ensuring that Mainers receive the secure retirement and benefits they’ve paid into and earned,” a campaign spokesperson said.
In Bangor, Collins also touted the Social Security Fairness Act, the 2025 law she co-wrote that restored full benefits to retired teachers, police officers and other public employees whose pensions had reduced them. Fixing it has helped Maine recruit and keep law enforcement officers, she said.
Jackson and Collins meet for their final debate Thursday at the Gracie Theater in Bangor, in the only debate with a live audience and questions from voters.
Photo credit: Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons
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© 2026 the Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Maine). Visit www.bangordailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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