Massachusetts

Sens. Collins and Romney Join President Trump for Lunch

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A New England senator was part of a group of eight that joined President Donald Trump for a Thursday lunch at the White House.

The group of Republican senators included Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, currently a senator from Utah, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and others.

"Today's lunch was one in a long series of Thursday lunches with Republican senators that have been going on for many weeks in Washington," a spokeswoman for Collins said in a statement to NBC-affiliate News Center Maine.

However, the lunch happened while the final day of planned public testimony in the impeachment inquiry on Capitol Hill.

Collins' spokeswoman said the president touched on impeachment with Collins present, but would not elaborate on exactly what was said.

"I'm not going to go into the details of what the president said, but he made a few brief comments at the beginning," she said. "He did not ask anything of anyone, there was no procedure discussed."

Instead, Collins said she and Sen. Chuck Grassley "urged the president to support a number of bills we've written that would help lower the skyrocketing cost of prescriptions drugs."

In addition, Collins said she "brought up the unjustified increases in the cost of insulin ... trade issues ... and the impact of the tariffs on Maine's lobster industry."

There was also a discussion of "potential FDA regulations of vaping products and e-cigarettes."

Collins' and Romney's presence was notable because they are two of three Republican senators who did not join their colleagues in signing a rebuff of the House impeachment inquiry.

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