After U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and the Republican-led Congress approved this month a bill that averted a government shutdown but cut out earmarks for states, the senator’s website got a subtle edit.
The Maine Republican’s office changed her page on earmarks to take out information on the projects she sought hundreds of millions of dollars for in 2025. Noting her role as Senate Appropriations Committee chair, it now says earmark details “will be made available at a later date” while keeping links to the other projects funded at her request since 2022.
It nods to the larger question facing Collins. After delivering on a promise to win outsized shares of federal money for Maine during her high-profile 2020 reelection race against then-Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon, how will she continue to do that with President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk bypassing Congress to slash federal jobs and agencies?
“If we don’t have a functioning appropriations process, that will hurt her ability to direct funds to Maine and generally undercut Congress’ power and one of its most significant tools for pushing back against the executive branch,” Molly Reynolds, a senior fellow in governance studies at the left-leaning Brookings Institution, said Thursday.
The 2020 campaign came during Trump’s first term. At that time, he did not have Musk on hand. The defining feature of the president’s second term has been the aggressive moves to cut federal programs and agencies, with Musk now eyeing Social Security after he and Trump made false claims of widespread fraud with the benefits program for disabled and retired recipients.
Trump’s administration has also launched several investigations into Maine and its schools over the state’s transgender athlete policies and engaged in a pattern of suddenly freezing funds or ending programs for Maine before reversing some of those moves. Collins, while taking credit for some of those reversals after talking with Trump administration officials, would not say last week if she blames the president for Maine’s funding uncertainty.
In response to written questions sent last week, the senator’s office denied that the stopgap funding bill empowers Trump and Musk to wield greater spending influence, despite Rep. Tom Cole, R-Oklahoma, a top appropriator, telling Politico that the move will likely “make it easier” for Trump and Musk to make their own spending decisions.
In response to a question on how Collins is using her influence and top appropriator role to win funds that benefit Maine and state projects, Collins spokesperson Phoebe Ferraiolo said the senator “will continue to advocate for Maine projects that are a responsible use of tax dollars and that will benefit the state.”
“We are disappointed that we needed to pass a CR to fund the government, but that does not mean that Maine will lose out on all of the many federal investments that are important to our state,” Ferraiolo said, adding Collins “does occasionally text” with Musk.
Ferraiolo also said earmarks “are never guaranteed” and repeated a complaint Collins has previously made about Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, not bringing spending bills to the floor last year when he was the Senate majority leader.
Collins, who is up for reelection in 2026 in a race that so far has two little-known challengers, will likely face more uncomfortable moments under Trump while representing a Democratic-leaning state. The senator has also won praise from more ardent House conservatives by lunching with them to discuss strategy ahead of this month’s funding vote.
“Sometimes, on the far right side, she gets an unfair reputation and is treated unfairly,” Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Florida, told Politico after Collins had lunch with the conservative House Republican Study Committee.
Collins led the Senate last year in claiming earmarks worth about $576 billion for Maine projects, with U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, also ranking highly among senators. Maine, the ninth-least populous state, had the sixth-highest amount of earmarks in fiscal year 2023 before rising to the top for earmarks in 2024.
Amid Trump’s cost-cutting campaign that has faced several hurdles in court, Collins may have to answer to constituents on what she is “willing to do to stick up for the congressional appropriations process more broadly,” Reynolds, the Brookings analyst, said.
Liberal advocacy groups have sought to ramp up pressure on Collins, with Indivisible Cumberland County holding a town hall in Gorham last week framed as an event that she was invited to but did not attend. It featured constituents criticizing her in a discussion moderated by former U.S. Rep. Tom Allen, a Democrat who lost to Collins in 2008.
But the senator has her backers and will be hard for Democrats to beat in 2026, especially given national Republicans have pledged to spend big to help her. Maine Better Transportation Association Executive Director Maria Fuentes acknowledged it is “a tough environment” to make predictions but feels Collins will “keep securing money for Maine” in her role.
This month’s frantic efforts by Congress to pass another continuing resolution came after other stopgap funding bills won out in recent years over the normal funding process that Collins prefers. Ferraiolo said the committee is turning to 2026 spending bills in hopes of avoiding another short-term fight but nodded to the uncertainty.
“There is no way to predict how the process will go next year,” she said.
