WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s disregard for Congress and its power of the purse is putting senior Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in an awkward spot as she heads towards a crucial reelection battle next year.
As chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Collins should have tremendous influence over legislation allocating federal funding to various government programs and getting them to the Senate floor, an argument she made repeatedly during her 2020 Senate campaign. Doing so requires bipartisan agreement in the Senate, where 60 votes are necessary to overcome a filibuster.
Yet the White House made clear it has little respect for the appropriations process or bipartisan input in general. The administration has frozen billions of dollars in funding Congress passed earlier this year, shuttered federal agencies without congressional approval, and passed partisan rescissions clawing back spending previously approved on a bipartisan basis — essentially making Collins’ job a lot less influential.
Collins’ objections to that approach have largely been ignored, however, and the Trump administration is preparing even more rescissions that could further poison the appropriations process. How the senator handles the situation could determine whether the government plunges into a shutdown and could potentially have ramifications for her bid for a sixth term next year in Maine, where polls show her standing has suffered in recent months.
