Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she believes the government will avoid a shutdown Saturday, even if it takes extending the current budget deadline to do so.

“A government shutdown is a disaster,” she said while visiting the Cumberland County Fair Monday. “It is never good policy.”

Collins said she spent the weekend working with her colleagues in both the house and senate to find a solution to avoid the shutdown.  

Most likely, she said, there will be a 30-day extension tacked onto the current budget to avoid the shutdown, but it all depends on the consensus in Congress.

“I have a feeling we’re going to go to the very last minute,” she said.

One notable impact a shutdown could have on Mainers, Collins said, would be shutting down national parks, including Acadia National Park. 

“This is a peak time of year for Acadia National Park,” she said. “If it has to close down, that has a ripple effect on the local businesses, and that is very troubling,” she said. 

A shutdown would not, Collins added, interfere with federal-level payments such as social security checks.

“Those would still go out,” she said.

DEFENSE BILL IN LIMBO

Collins, who was also touring aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney in North Berwick Monday, said she was also watching the 2023 defense bill, which was delayed in the house last week after a number of right-wing Republicans voted against it. 

Collins, who is the ranking Republican on the defense appropriations subcommittee in the senate, noted that in her committee, the bill passed by a vote of 27-1.

“That’s a good sign in terms of support for it,” she said.

Collins echoed comments from Bath Iron Works last week that a halt in funding will not affect current projects, only potential new contracts still in the works.

“For right now, I don’t think Bath Iron Works, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (or) Pratt & Whitney should be concerned, but obviously a prolonged shutdown would begin to have an impact,” she said.