WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed a government funding bill Tuesday that ends the partial federal shutdown and includes an outsized sum of $250 million for Maine projects that amounted to a victory for U.S. Sen. Susan Collins.
The Republican president moved quickly to sign the $1.2 trillion bill after the House approved it with a 217-214 vote. It wrapped up congressional work on 11 annual appropriations bills that fund government agencies and programs through Sept. 30, accomplishing a key goal of Collins, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee and is in a difficult campaign for a sixth term.
It was the senator’s biggest flexing of the position that she ran on securing in 2020 and won last year. Congress averted a shutdown then by passing a bill that set aside hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks for Maine, something that diluted Collins’ influence during the first year of Trump’s second term.
But the appropriations process got on track in the run-up to the new year. The package passed Tuesday included $250 million for earmarks to Maine. Almost all of that was for infrastructure and health, with $71 million of that going to hospitals and health centers.
“Passage of this package shows that we as a Congress can come together in a bipartisan way to deliver real results for the people we are honored to represent,” Collins said in a statement.
The legislation’s quick passage marked the start of another funding fight because the package only funds the Department of Homeland Security for two weeks at the behest of Democrats who are demanding more restrictions on immigration enforcement after the shooting deaths of two people by federal officers in Minneapolis.
Difficult negotiations are ahead over the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York quickly warned Democrats would not support any further temporary funding for Homeland Security without substantial changes to its operations.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, said he expects the two sides will be able to reach an agreement by the deadline.
“This is no time to play games with that funding. We hope that they will operate in good faith over the next 10 days as we negotiate this,” Johnson said. “The president, again, has reached out.”
The funding bill that cleared Congress Tuesday had provisions that appealed to both parties. Majority Republicans avoided a massive, catchall funding bill known as an omnibus as part of this year’s appropriations process. But Democrats fended off some of Trump’s most draconian proposed cuts and added language aiming to ensure funds are spent as stipulated.
Johnson still needed near-unanimous support from his Republican conference to proceed to a final vote on the bill. He narrowly got it during a roll call that was held open for nearly an hour as leaders worked to gain support from a handful of Republicans who were trying to advance other priorities unrelated to the funding measure.
The final vote wasn’t much easier for GOP leaders. In the end, 21 Republicans sided with the vast majority of Democrats in voting against the funding bill. The exact same number of Democrats sided with the vast majority of Republicans in voting yes. That group of Democrats included Rep. Jared Golden of Maine’s 2nd District, who won’t run for a fifth term in 2026.
Collins is one of Democrats’ top targets on this year’s Senate map. Gov. Janet Mills and progressive newcomer Graham Platner of Sullivan are vying for the party’s nomination to take on the senator, who appeared at Trump’s bill signing ceremony holding a red “AMERICA IS BACK!” hat handed out by the president in the Oval Office.
The Maine Democratic Party veered away from the content of the bill to note the senator’s appearance with Trump, who lost Maine by nearly 7 percentage points in 2024.
“Hey @SenSusanCollins — when you’re done rubbing elbows with @realDonaldTrump , the people of Maine are ready for you to grow a backbone,” Mills posted on X.
Story by Kevin Freking. BDN writer Michael Shepherd contributed to this report. Associated Press video journalist Nathan Ellgren and writers Lisa Mascaro, Joey Cappelletti and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
