On January 30, 2026, Maine Senator Susan Collins voted against an amendment to bar pocket rescissions, the maneuver the White House budget office used in September 2026 to cancel $810 million Congress had approved. She had voted in February 2025 to confirm budget director Russell Vought, whose office ran both pocket rescissions, and she voted to confirm the agency heads whose departments the Government Accountability Office found had illegally withheld funds.
In July 2025 Collins voted against an amendment to save public broadcasting money from the rescissions package, and Maine Public lost its federal grants. On September 25, 2026, Collins called the latest pocket rescission an unlawful cancellation of appropriations, eight months after her vote against the amendment that would have barred it.
Susan Collins's Votes and Confirmations Behind the Withheld and Canceled Funds
- Collins Voted Against Barring the Pocket Rescissions That Canceled $810 Million in September 2026. On January 30, 2026, Susan Collins voted against waiving budget rules for Senator Jeff Merkley's amendment to the spending bill, which would have said a rescission message may not propose to rescind or defer any budget authority that expires within 90 days. It failed 47 to 52. On September 25, 2026, the White House budget office sent Congress a pocket rescission of $810 million in 11 accounts expiring at the end of the fiscal year, money that would have gone to refugee assistance programs at the Department of Health and Human Services and a Minority Business Development Agency grant program, among others. The Government Accountability Office concluded that "The President may not force the expiration of budget authority Congress has already enacted and did not rescind." The money, in accounts expiring at the end of the fiscal year, lapsed on October 1, 2026.
- Collins Voted to Confirm Russell Vought, Whose Budget Office Ran Both Pocket Rescissions. On February 6, 2025, Susan Collins voted to confirm Russell Vought as director of the Office of Management and Budget, and he was confirmed 53 to 47. In August 2025 Vought's office sent its first pocket rescission and clawed back $4.9 billion in funding for foreign aid, though GAO had found that the impoundment law does not permit the withholding of funds past their date of expiration.
- Collins Voted to Confirm the Agency Heads Whose Departments Illegally Withheld Funds. Susan Collins voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary on February 13, 2025, Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary on January 25, 2025 and Lee Zeldin as EPA administrator on January 29, 2025. GAO found that the NIH violated the ICA by withholding funds from obligation and expenditure in 2025, that FEMA has violated the ICA by withholding grant money, and that the EPA under Zeldin violated the ICA when the agency, without submitting a special message, held back Community Change Grants. Noem's department also terminated 362 grants and deobligated about $1 billion for those grants, GAO reported, and some disaster mitigation projects were delayed.
- Collins Voted to Confirm the Secretaries Whose Agencies Canceled Infrastructure and Energy Awards. Susan Collins voted to confirm Sean Duffy as transportation secretary on January 28, 2025 and Doug Burgum as interior secretary on January 30, 2025. GAO found that EPA, Interior, the Transportation Department and the Commerce Department's telecommunications agency reviewed infrastructure and energy awards for terms such as "diversity", canceled hundreds, and that by 2026 More than 2,500 awards were pending a decision.
- Collins Voted Against Saving Public Broadcasting From the Rescissions Package. On July 16, 2025, Susan Collins voted against an amendment "To strike the rescissions of funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting" from the package the White House sent, CNN reported, to formalize DOGE cuts to federal funding. It failed 47 to 52. The law canceled $1.1 billion in funding for public broadcasting through fiscal year 2027. In January 2026 the Corporation for Public Broadcasting voted to dissolve itself after 58 years, and PBS said it was cutting about 15% of its jobs.
- Collins Voted Against Cutting Off DOGE's Funding as It Claimed Savings GAO Could Not Confirm. On March 14, 2025, Susan Collins voted no on an amendment to bar the full-year spending law's funds from use by the Department of Government Efficiency. It failed 48 to 52. GAO later found that some of DOGE's reported savings estimates are incorrect or lack supporting evidence, while agencies spent $9.5 billion in salary costs on paid administrative leave in 2025.
- Collins Called the September 2026 Pocket Rescission Unlawful After Voting Against Barring It. On September 25, 2026, Susan Collins wrote in a statement that the budget office had withheld funds "for months to execute this unlawful cancellation of appropriations", the Louisiana Illuminator reported. Eight months earlier, on January 30, 2026, Collins had voted against the Merkley amendment, which would have barred rescission requests for money within 90 days of expiring, the exact maneuver she called unlawful.
- Collins Prepared an Amendment to Shield Public Broadcasting and Then Did Not Offer It. During the July 2025 rescissions debate, Susan Collins had prepared an amendment to shield the Corporation for Public Broadcasting from the cuts, and, The New York Times reported on October 11, 2026, "After hours of wavering, Ms. Collins decided not to try to make the change". The public broadcasting rescission stayed in the law, and Maine's statewide public broadcaster lost its federal grants.
What the Canceled and Withheld Funds Cost Maine Under Susan Collins's Votes
- Maine Public. Maine Public, the state's public radio and television network, lost about $2.5 million in grants from CPB for the coming year, Maine Morning Star reported, about 12 percent of its budget. Maine Public's president and chief executive, Rick Schneider, said the network is the "backbone" of Maine's emergency alert system.
- Disaster mitigation. Under the FEMA grant cancellations, A total of 18 resilience projects in Maine had their BRIC applications terminated, The Maine Monitor reported, projects meant to protect Maine towns from flooding and storms.
Frequently Asked Questions About Susan Collins on Government spending
What is Susan Collins's record on government spending under Trump?
Susan Collins voted on January 30, 2026 against an amendment to bar the pocket rescissions that the White House budget office used in September 2026, and she voted to confirm budget director Russell Vought, whose office ran them. She voted to confirm the heads of health, homeland security and environmental agencies whose departments the Government Accountability Office found had illegally withheld funds. She also voted against saving public broadcasting money, and Maine Public lost its federal grants.
What is a pocket rescission, and how did Susan Collins vote on banning them?
Susan Collins voted on January 30, 2026 against the Merkley amendment that would have barred pocket rescissions, requests to cancel money so close to the end of the fiscal year that the funds expire before Congress acts. GAO said in September 2026 that the President may not force the expiration of money Congress has enacted and did not rescind.
Did Susan Collins try to protect public broadcasting funding in 2025?
Susan Collins voted against Senator Tammy Baldwin's July 16, 2025 amendment to strike the public broadcasting rescission, which failed 47 to 52. The New York Times reported that she had prepared her own amendment to shield the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and decided not to try to offer it.
Last updated: 2026-10-25