Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year, Sen. Susan Collins has sought to once again tout her ability to win money for Maine and influence policy as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

It is a similar argument the Maine Republican made to voters in 2020, when she fended off Democrat Sara Gideon in an expensive, nationally watched race. This year features another expensive, high-stakes reelection battle for Collins.

But Trump’s impact on congressional races is ever present. His second term has, at times, made his first seem relatively calm due to the Republican president’s aggressive efforts to slash the size of government and decision to go to war with Iran, among a flurry of other actions.

That turmoil and the looming election raise the question of whether Collins has held hearings that seek to reassert the authority of the Republican-controlled Congress to control spending. She says yes and points to how she is bringing six Cabinet officials to testify Wednesday on Trump’s budget request for 2027, but Democrats say those are empty words.

That debate may matter to a segment of undecided Mainers who — unlike those who reliably commit to supporting their preferred party’s candidate — are not yet totally sold on either Collins or the eventual winner of the Democratic primary in June between Sullivan oysterman Graham Platner and Gov. Janet Mills (with Brunswick Democrat David Costello not gaining much traction in the race). Those Maine voters, a small yet important bloc, include independents turned off by Trump’s moves to essentially ignore Congress in carrying out his agenda.

“Every budget hearing the Appropriations Committee holds is an oversight hearing,” Phoebe Keller, a Collins spokesperson, said in an emailed statement Tuesday. “These hearings give senators from both sides of the aisle the opportunity to scrutinize the Administration’s budget request and question cabinet secretaries and other agency heads.”

Oversight hearings are their own category of hearing, according to Congress.gov.

Among the most pressing oversight related issues in Collins’ purview is the war in the Middle East that began in late February when the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Iran, setting off the latest turmoil in the region and causing volatility with gas prices.

Collins and other members of Congress have not held a congressional hearing on the war. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is not among the numerous Cabinet officials whom Collins had called to testify Wednesday on Trump’s budget request for next year that seeks $1.5 trillion for the military while cutting nonmilitary spending, but Collins’ office said Hegseth will testify in May on the Defense Department’s budget request.

Trump had initially said the war in Iran would end quickly, but it is costing the U.S. billions of dollars per day as it continues, along with civilian and military casualties on all sides.

Collins said in February that “sustained combat operations require full engagement with Congress,” but she has since voted with Republicans to defeat war powers resolutions that seek to rein in Trump’s military actions in Iran and otherwise only said she will “very likely” vote against supporting further “hostilities” once the May 1 deadline arrives for Trump to receive authorization from Congress.

Platner and Mills have both gone after Collins over that as part of their Senate campaigns. Mills pointed to Trump’s military budget request while tweeting in early April about how Collins has previously “rubber-stamped his radical agenda.” Platner, a Marine veteran, said the senator is “doing nothing.”

Democratic critics of Collins have also noted how the Senate Appropriations Committee had met more often while chaired by the late Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., early on during Trump’s first term and by former Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., early on during former President Joe Biden’s one term.

Since the start of 2025, the Senate budget panel under Collins has met about four dozen times, or about 20 fewer times than at the same point under Cochran and five fewer times than at the same point under Leahy.

Collins’ office said the committee is ramping up hearings in May and has more than 30 meetings planned before the end of next month. Her office also said Collins and other lawmakers have opposed Trump’s proposed cuts to Job Corps and Pell Grant initiatives, among other programs.

The other key point that Collins has made in the face of criticism is how she has been at the top of the Senate in terms of bringing earmarks to her state, with Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, also high up as the two have brought more than $1 billion to Maine for projects in recent years. Collins said in February that she won more than $425 million in earmarks for this fiscal year.

But Congress cut earmarks out of a 2025 spending package amid one of its numerous recent shutdown fights that have gummed up the normal appropriations process. Collins has largely blamed Democrats and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for budget dysfunction, but congressional Republicans and Trump have been in control of Capitol Hill since 2025.

Trump has instead told Collins and GOP lawmakers to not make deals with Democrats during standoffs over Homeland Security funding and over extending Affordable Care Act subsidies that expired Dec. 31.

This story was updated on April 21 to correct the spelling of Phoebe Keller’s name, and April 23 to clarify the oversight hearing process.