Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who leads the Senate Appropriations Committee, is demanding that the Trump administration release more than $1 billion in global health funding that Congress already approved, warning that the money will otherwise lapse on Wednesday.
In a letter addressed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, and Eric Ueland—the Trump aide overseeing the remaining functions of the U.S. Agency for International Development—Collins said $1.3 billion appropriated for fiscal 2025 must be used as Congress intended. She specifically cautioned against letting the funds expire or diverting them to cover what she called “unknown closeout costs” tied to the administration’s decision to dismantle USAID.
“I urge USAID to ensure that the funding is spent to combat public health threats consistent with congressional intent, either by obligating the funding prior to the end of the fiscal year or transferring funds to the Department for such purposes,” Collins wrote.
The money is designated for maternal and child health programs and efforts to fight infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. Collins, who is facing a competitive reelection fight, has increasingly broken with the White House on spending priorities.
Her letter follows a sharp warning from Senate Democrats earlier this week. Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the top Democratic appropriator, and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), the ranking Democrat on the State Department funding panel, accused the administration of redirecting the $1.3 billion for global health along with $1.2 billion in development assistance to cover the costs of shuttering USAID.
Murray and Schatz also said the administration plans to let an additional $725 million expire on Sept. 30 rather than spend it. That sum includes $115 million to combat international narcotics trafficking, human trafficking, and other transnational crimes; $310 million for assistance to counter Russia in Europe and Eurasia; and $300 million for economic growth programs aimed at secure supply chains and American competitiveness.
“Congress passed a law to invest in saving lives … it did not hand Trump a checkbook to spend on whatever he pleases while blocking funding for everything else,” the two senators said in a joint statement. “The Trump administration needs to rework its plans and spend these resources as Congress intended, and we need Republicans in Congress to finally join us in insisting that happens.”
The standoff comes as the administration reshapes U.S. foreign assistance, a move that has drawn scrutiny from lawmakers in both parties. OMB did not immediately respond to questions about its plans for the funds.
Collins’s intervention adds pressure on the White House from a senior Republican who controls the appropriations process. It also underscores a broader fight over executive branch power to reallocate or withhold money that Congress has already appropriated—a dispute that has already prompted warnings from the Supreme Court bench about emergency rulings and could intensify as the fiscal year deadline looms.
