During her 2020 reelection campaign, Sen. Susan Collins talked often about her seniority and how it could benefit Maine financially if she returned for a fifth term.

Now Collins is the highest-ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, and her increased power to secure earmarks – funding for specific projects – has put Maine at the front of the line for funding in the Senate.

According to a recent analysis by CQ/Roll Call, Maine is set to receive the most Senate funding for earmarks of any state – $602 million – in Fiscal Year 2024 even though the state’s population ranks 42nd. That’s an increase of $278 million in earmarks from a year ago, when Maine ranked sixth in Senate earmarks.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, addresses the media in November 2022. J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press

The Senate totals also include requests that originated from Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, but Collins’ influence is clearly behind Maine’s top ranking.

“I think you have to give the senator credit where it’s due,” said Ron Schmidt, a political scientist at the University of Southern Maine. “The Democrats control the Senate and she’s still managing to bring home a lot of money to projects here in the state. That’s an accomplishment.”

Collins said her role as vice chair of the Appropriations Committee and her being the most senior Republican member of the committee have given her more clout and influence.

“There is no doubt it helps me secure more funding,” Collins said in a telephone interview Wednesday night. “I want to bring as much funding to Maine as possible.”

Combining the Senate and House appropriations bills for the next fiscal year, Maine has a total of $628 million in earmarks, which ranks behind only California, Texas and New York – three of the country’s most populous states. House earmarks are limited to 15 per representative and the amount is based on population. Maine has just two House members; California has 52.

But there are no restrictions in the Senate – where Maine and California are on equal footing – which means even senators from smaller states wield far more power to direct funds.

Collins rose to become the most senior Republican on the powerful Appropriations Committee at end of last year following the retirement of Alabama’s Richard Shelby. Not coincidentally, Alabama was the No. 1 recipient of Senate earmarks before Shelby’s retirement.

While Maine’s high ranking in Senate earmarks reflects Collins’ increased influence, it’s still early in the appropriations process for next year.

COLLINS’ STAFF VETS PROPOSALS

Collins admitted Wednesday night that Maine’s project funding package has a ways to go, but she remains hopeful and optimistic that the merits of the projects will receive support from members of Congress.

She said that all of the spending proposals, which range from $725,000 to purchase two mobile cancer units for the Dempsey Center in Lewiston to $1 million to upgrade and replace Cumberland County communications equipment, $2.7 million to dredge the Scarborough River and $1.5 million to build a new YMCA serving the Bangor region, were rigorously vetted by her Maine staffers.

Her staffers visit each site on the earmark list, talk to people in the affected community about its potential impact, and require at least four letters of recommendation for support. Each applicant for funds must be a nonprofit or public entity. Collins said she uses her experience on the Appropriations Committee to help applicants shape their requests so that they satisfy funding criteria.

“There are so many needs in this state,” Collins said, adding that she enjoys helping worthwhile projects achieve their goals.

The Republican-led House of Representatives has not finalized its bills and the two chambers need to reconcile before anything is signed into law and funds are distributed. A lot of things have to happen in the meantime and many worry that the discord between the House and Senate could lead to either a shutdown or the passage of a continuing resolution, in which case no state’s earmarks would be funded.

Last year was the first in a decade that members of Congress were allowed to request specific funding initiatives for their districts, known as earmarks. The practice had been widely criticized as wasteful spending that added to the budget deficit and lacked controls. Once restored, the process occurred under tighter rules designed to avoid corruption and abuse that limited the number of requests, required them to be public, and ensured that nonprofits and governmental entities benefited, not private firms.

Collins already steered a lot of federal funding to Maine projects even before Shelby’s retirement at the end of 2022. Last year, Collins’ office reported that the senator secured $200.3 million for 105 projects across the state. King’s office reported 92 earmarks approved totaling $136 million last year.

The largest chunks of Collins’ earmarks last year went to University of Maine research into climate, advanced material and composites, wind energy and other programs, and to Maine Department of Transportation road improvement projects. But Collins also funneled federal money into a wide variety of community-level projects, from improved wastewater treatment to organizations that provide health care and workforce development.

UMAINE AMONG BIGGEST BENEFICIARIES

The University of Maine has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of earmark requests by Collins and other delegation members.

“We know how fortunate our public universities are that Maine is represented in Washington by a small delegation with such big influence and a deep understanding of our institutional strengths and the state’s needs,” Joan Ferrini-Mundy, University of Maine System Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation and President of the University of Maine, said in a prepared statement Wednesday. “Throughout the year and over the course of many years, we work closely with the delegation and their staff to really understand their priorities and to match those with university projects. … That ongoing partnership and this CDS process has been transformative for our public universities and their capacity to serve the state.”

Schmidt, the USM political scientist, said that although earmarks have been criticized in the past, “Congress has a right to engage in directing spending as much as the executive branch.”

As for Collins’ success, Schmidt said being the ranking Republican helps but so does her longevity and willingness to collaborate with Democratic senators.

Last year, all four members of Maine’s delegation secured funding for Maine projects. In some cases, more than one member of the delegation will secure funding for the same projects, so the total received by the state will be somewhat less than the total value of the earmarks.

Just as Maine has seen a marked increase in earmarks, states where long-serving senators retired – including Alabama, Vermont and Oklahoma – have fallen in the rankings.

A decade ago, long before reforms were made, Collins was among those who supported suspending earmarks. Since they have been restored, though, she has been outspoken in favor of them, saying the system has appropriate safeguards and is more transparent. There is still opposition to the practice. Some Republican senators – in Florida and Texas, for instance – didn’t submit any earmark requests.

“My feeling about this is judging from spending that went on during the Trump administration, complaints in the GOP ring hollow,” Schmidt said. “These are not deficit hawks but people who have distaste for government when they don’t control the White House.”

Staff Writer Dennis Hoey contributed to this report.