WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said his panel will take up legislation next month to extend a moratorium on new North Atlantic right whale protections, a move that comes as Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) accused a senior Senate Democrat of blocking the bill, according to Fox News Politics.
The Northeast Lobsterman Protection Act, which passed the House, would extend a regulatory pause set to expire Dec. 31, 2028, for another seven years. The moratorium was first imposed in late 2022 at the behest of the Maine delegation on both sides of the aisle, inserted into a year-end spending package in response to a Biden administration "biological opinion" issued in 2021 that recommended tougher restrictions to keep endangered right whales from getting tangled in commercial fishing lines.
Collins, who requested the committee take up the lobster industry-backed bill in a September letter with Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), accused a top Senate Democrat of standing in the way of protections for Maine's lobstermen. The Maine Lobstermen's Association says the industry supports about $2 billion in annual economic activity.
"The potential for major changes such as a mandate to use 'ropeless' gear and fishery closures was too much for the Maine lobster industry, which fears a future administration could revive similar efforts," Roll Call reported, noting that the 2022 law appropriated $20 million to support the adoption of innovative fishing gear deployment and techniques to reduce entanglement risk, part of an overall $280 million appropriated in recent years for right whale recovery efforts.
Cruz, who is up for reelection in 2026, credited Collins for the push. "Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz said his panel will take up legislation next month to extend a moratorium on new North Atlantic right whale protections, a move the Texas Republican credited to Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins five days out from one of the most pivotal elections of her career," Roll Call reported.
Collins is locked in a competitive reelection campaign against Democratic nominee Troy Jackson, a former logger and longtime state legislator. Recent polling shows the nominees neck and neck heading into the Nov. 3 election, according to The Guardian. The race could determine control of the Senate and reshape President Donald Trump's final two years in office.
Collins has sought to rekindle the election magic that lifted her to a resounding victory six years ago, running a hyperlocal race that focuses on her seniority and ability to direct federal dollars to Maine. As chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, she brings home federal money that might otherwise go to other states.
"I have been able to secure funding for 45 fire stations all over the state to be rebuilt or renovated, and today we see what an important role they play," Collins said at an event in Kenduskeag, Maine Public reported. It wasn't an official campaign stop, but it allowed Collins to advance her central argument for why she deserves a historic sixth term.
Jackson has tried to nationalize the contest, framing Collins as an enabler of Trump's second term. "You know, tariffs, the Iran War — all these things Susan Collins, I believe, could stop," Jackson said, according to Maine Public. "But she doesn't want to stop them because that's who her master is."
The lobster industry is a priority for the state, and the bill's supporters argue that extending the regulatory pause would provide greater certainty — particularly with the presidency up in the air in 2028. According to the Maine Lobstermen's Association, the industry supports about $2 billion in annual economic activity.
Our Take
Once again, the Democrats are playing politics with Maine's livelihood. While Senator Collins fights to protect the hardworking men and women of Maine's lobster industry from job-killing regulations cooked up by the Biden administration, a senior Senate Democrat is blocking the very legislation that would give them certainty. This is what the radical Left does: they put the interests of environmental extremists ahead of American workers.
Senator Cruz deserves credit for stepping up and vowing to move the Northeast Lobsterman Protection Act through his committee. It's a reminder that Republicans are the party of American industry and American jobs, while Democrats are the party of endless regulation and government overreach.
Maine voters have a clear choice on Nov. 3: keep Susan Collins, a proven fighter for Maine's lobster industry, or hand the Senate over to Troy Jackson and his Democrat allies who would let the bureaucrats run roughshod over Maine's economy. The choice is yours, patriots. Stand with Maine's lobstermen. Stand with Susan Collins.
