A familiar scene is creeping up on Congress again this year that could affect millions of dollars for Maine projects that U.S. Sen. Susan Collins has nudged forward in recent days.
Both the House and Senate are facing little time with an August recess to pass all 12 appropriations bills to fund the government in 2026 before a Sept. 30 shutdown deadline, after the Republican-controlled Congress slogged through a marathon series of votes to pass President Donald Trump’s megabill of tax breaks and spending cuts that he signed on July 4.
That has Capitol Hill preparing for at least one more continuing resolution rather than a full-year spending plan to keep the government running. A stopgap deal would potentially take away congressionally directed spending for Maine projects and repeat what happened in March, when Senate Democrats helped the GOP pass a long-term continuing resolution that averted a shutdown but cut hundreds of millions of dollars of earmarks.
That was a blow to Collins, the Maine Republican and Senate Appropriations Committee chair who highlighted her ability to win money for her state both in rising to the powerful budget role this year and in defeating Democrat Sara Gideon in 2020. The current budget talks could once again test her influence entering a 2026 campaign year.
In bipartisan Thursday votes, her appropriations committee advanced two spending bills on agriculture and the legislative branch. Plenty of work remains on top of senators also facing disagreements over Trump’s plan to claw back roughly $9 billion in approved spending that supports global HIV/AIDS relief, public broadcasting and foreign aid.
Collins’ office sent out five different news releases Thursday on the agriculture spending bill’s approval that touted aspects of the more than $25 million it includes for Maine. Those earmarks for the 2026 fiscal year would help build a fire station in St. Albans, a town garage in Solon and a multi-purpose facility at the Mount Desert Island YMCA, among the 18 projects.
Collins led Congress in claiming earmarks worth more than half a billion dollars in 2024. Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, was reportedly third by claiming more than $450 million. That has given Maine, with only about 1.4 million people, outsized influence when it comes to winning federal funding.
Between them, Collins and King requested more than $1 billion for earmarks for this year before Congress cut them out of the March spending deal. How much money Collins and King will win for 2026 remains up in the air, with a Collins spokesperson only saying Friday that it remains too soon to say what will happen. A King spokesperson similarly nodded to the earmark uncertainty by saying they “don’t know that anything will come of them.”
The House is behind schedule by so far only passing a military construction and veterans spending bill in June. U.S. Rep. Jared Golden of the 2nd District was one of two Democrats to back it. Golden and Rep. Chellie Pingree, the 1st District Democrat, have claimed fewer earmarks due to House rules, but their 2025 requests still totaled about $30 million.
Pingree, a House Appropriations Committee member, said in a statement that House Republicans are “steering us toward another short-term continuing resolution” that would halt projects she has requested money for, such as repairing a wharf in the town of Friendship and improving downtowns in Waterville and Damariscotta.
“Not only does a CR block new funding, but it also keeps the Appropriations Committee from identifying and cutting funding that may no longer be needed,” Pingree added.
It is unlikely that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, will once again cut a deal with Republicans on a stopgap spending plan after taking heat from his caucus for doing so in March. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, would need at least seven Democrats to pass it. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, told Capitol Hill reporters the funding outlook remains in flux but that they “want to appropriate at lower levels.”
Recipients of potential 2026 earmarks in Maine expressed appreciation for Collins requesting the money for their projects but avoided weighing in on the broader budget challenges facing Congress. A spokesperson for the Owls Head Transportation Museum, which is hoping for $1.5 million to build a community center with science education programs for kids, declined to comment beyond a news release the midcoast museum issued Friday.
The new center and its programs “will inspire and equip Maine students to become future innovators and change-makers in our communities,” John Bottero, the museum’s executive director, said.