Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who leads the Senate Appropriations Committee, is pressing the Trump administration to release more than $1 billion in global health funding that Congress already approved before the money expires 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 (USAID)—Collins warned that $1.3 billion appropriated for fiscal 2025 must be spent according to congressional intent.
The Maine Republican made clear she opposes letting the funds lapse or allowing the administration to redirect them toward what she called “unknown closeout costs” tied to the 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 was designated for maternal and child health programs and efforts to fight infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. Collins’s intervention comes as she faces a competitive re-election fight in Maine, where her narrow lead over Jackson has drawn national attention.
Her letter follows a warning earlier this week from top Senate Democrats about the administration’s move to redirect more than $2 billion in appropriated foreign aid toward shutting down the agency. Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii)—the Senate’s top Democratic appropriator and the ranking Democrat on the State Department funding panel—said the administration is diverting the $1.3 billion for global health programs along with $1.2 billion for development assistance.
They also said the Trump administration plans to let an additional $725 million expire on Sept. 30 rather than spend it. That total includes $115 million to combat international illicit narcotics trafficking, human trafficking, and other transnational crimes; $310 million to counter Russia through U.S. assistance in Europe and Eurasia; and $300 million to invest in secure supply chains and American competitiveness through economic growth programs.
“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,” Schatz and Murray 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 OMB did not immediately respond to questions about its plans for the money. The standoff underscores a broader clash over executive power and congressional spending authority, with Democrats increasingly vocal about what they see as the administration’s disregard for legislative intent. As the fiscal year deadline looms, Collins’s warning adds pressure from within the president’s own party to comply with the law.
