Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins will summon six members of President Trump's Cabinet to testify before her committee next week. The move is part of an ambitious push to fund the government before the fiscal year ends on September 30. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick are among those set to appear before subcommittees on April 22.
Collins, the only Republican representing a Democratic-leaning state, aims to show Maine voters she can still deliver ahead of November's elections. She is seeking her sixth term. The chair also wants to persuade Democrats to give bipartisan appropriations talks another try.
According to Collins, the committee will then go into markups in June, with hopes that bills will be brought to the floor in July. She told Axios there are "a lot of difficult choices to be made." The process is a critical step in the annual funding cycle for federal agencies.
The hearings represent a key test of whether bipartisan cooperation on spending is possible in a politically divided Washington. Collins argues that Democrats lose leverage when Republicans resort to reconciliation to fund more controversial agencies. "Reconciliation is not my preference," she said.
Success would demonstrate her ability to navigate a challenging political environment and secure funding before a potential government shutdown. Failure could push the process toward more partisan reconciliation procedures.