Scoop: Senate plans to grill six Cabinet officials on Trump's budget
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UNITED STATES - MARCH 10: Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is seen in the U.S. Capitol during votes on Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) announced that appropriations subcommittees will call members of President Trump's Cabinet to testify before her committee next week, part of an ambitious push to fund the government before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.
Why it matters: Collins, the only Republican representing a Democratic-leaning state, wants to show Maine voters she can still deliver ahead of November's elections, when she's seeking her sixth term.
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins are set to appear before subcommittees on April 22.
- "We will then go into markups in June, and I hope that bills will be brought to the floor in July," Collins told Axios. "There are a lot of difficult choices to be made."
Zoom in: Collins, the chair of the committee, is also trying to persuade Democrats in Washington to give bipartisan appropriations talks another try and convince them that they lose leverage when Republicans resort to reconciliation to fund more controversial agencies.
- "Reconciliation is not my preference. I would much rather that we do appropriations bills. I particularly don't like multi-year reconciliation bills," Collins told Axios.
- "But the fact is, it's the Democrats who put us into this position," she said. "My hope is that the Democratic committee members will take a constructive approach and that they believe in the appropriations process."
Between the lines: Collins' potential Democratic opponent in the general election, Graham Platner, has said he would seek a seat on the Appropriations Committee if elected.
- He's engaged in a nasty primary with Gov. Janet Mills, but is acting like it's finished and is focusing on the general election.
- At a town hall in Boothbay, Maine, this week, he acknowledged the stakes: "We're going to lose her power, her seniority," if Collins is defeated, he said.
State of play: Senate Republicans are coalescing around a "skinny" reconciliation package to provide three years of funding for ICE and CBP, while funding the rest of the Department of Homeland Security through a traditional appropriations bill for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Zoom out: Last fall, Congress was on track to pass all 12 appropriations bills before year's end. But a dispute over extending Affordable Care Act premium tax credits triggered a 43-day government shutdown.
- Earlier this year, lawmakers were again on a glide path to funding the rest of the government before the shootings of Renée Goode and Alex Pretti in Minnesota eroded Democratic support, contributing to the current DHS funding standoff.
- "It's important to remember that 11 of the 12 appropriations bills did go through on a bipartisan basis," Collins said.
- "We don't want to set up a system where we're relying on endless reconciliation bills," she said.
