Republican Sen. Susan Collins said she is still evaluating all the provisions in the major spending bill before the Senate.
President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" passed in the House last week, but Collins said that the language is not final, and that amendments are likely.
"We don't have to pass the same bill that the House passed, and I don't think we should," she said. "I think we should make the bill much better."
Collins said she supports some elements of the bill- like the extension of the larger child tax credit, but has serious concerns about cuts to Medicaid.
Today during a visit to the Town of Clinton, Collins said that although the house bill tried to thread the needle on Medicaid she isn't sure it succeeded.
"I've said that if there are deep cuts in Medicaid that would endanger healthcare for low-income families, for disabled children, for other vulnerable populations, and for our rural hospitals, I'm simply not going to support that," she said.
Collins said she does support some work requirements for healthy adults using Medicaid but said those must be done carefully.
Maine Democratic Representatives Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden both voted against the bill and have criticized it as reckless.
Collins also said she opposes efforts by the Trump administration to abolish the Job Corps program and instead wants to see enrollment resumed at Maine's two Job Corps centers.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced the pause in enrollment last month, citing sustainability issues due to increasing costs.
But today Collins said the program has value and that Job Corps graduates are in high demand.
"So to me, the investment that we make in Job Corps is so worth it," she said. "I've seen so many teenagers have their lives completely turned around because of Job Corps."
Collins said it's unfair that the Maine centers were the first to be ordered to halt enrollment.
Collins was in Clinton today to see plans for the town's new fire station, for which she secured $2 million in congressionally directed spending.
"When I think of a town like Clinton, the rural area that it covers is so important to the people who live there to make sure that they have adequate access, not only if there's a fire, but also if there's a medical emergency," she said.
Collins said for the Town of Clinton, those services are made more urgent by the closure of Northern Light Inland Hospital in Waterville.
