U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said Thursday she’s secured more than $425 million in federal earmarks for 156 projects in all 16 of Maine’s counties — a reminder to voters about the value of seniority ahead of a tough reelection campaign.

Collins, a five-term Republican, touted the funding included in budget bills she helped negotiate and pass this fiscal year as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, a role she assumed in January.

“There’s an awful lot in this package for the state of Maine,” Collins said in an interview with the Press Herald on Thursday. “I’m delighted that as chair of the committee, I could bring people together, both in the House and the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, to send this to the president’s desk.”

Passage of the five-bill minibus earned praise from one of her most powerful critics: President Donald Trump, who recently said Collins “should never be elected to office again.”

“Hi, Susan,” Trump said at a bill signing ceremony in the Oval Office on Tuesday, as Collins stood to his right, clutching a red “America Is Back” hat. “You’re doing good.”

Collins is facing what is expected to be a brutal reelection battle. She’s the last New England Republican in Congress, and the only incumbent Republican running in a state won by Democrats in the 2024 presidential election.

Her reputation as a moderate has made her an easy target for critics on both sides of the aisle. A recent survey conducted by Morning Consult found that she was one of the least popular senators in the county, trailing only Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky.

But her ability to secure federal earmarks for fire departments, hospitals, community colleges and community nonprofits — plus additional funding for major employers like Bath Iron Works and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard — underscores why she has been so difficult to beat.

Collins’ office issued an avalanche of statements highlighting the funding coming to Maine this week. She told the Press Herald she was particularly proud of securing tens of millions of dollars for 45 fire stations across the state, $16 million for Southern Maine Community College and $71 million for hospitals and health care centers.

Since earmarks were restored after a decade-long ban and rebranded as “Congressionally Directed Spending” in 2021, Collins has helped secure nearly $1.5 billion for 670 projects in Maine, her office said. Maine is expected to get more Congressionally Directed Spending than any other state per capita, her office said.

Ronald Schmidt, a political science professor at the University of Southern Maine, said her ability to bring home the bacon has been key to Collins maintaining her base of support, which includes independents.

“As a senator this is definitely a strength of hers, unless you’re a budget hawk,” Schmidt said. “The big question for ’26 is whether that’s going to continue to be enough given the Trump administration’s aggressiveness in pursuing policies that a lot of Mainers don’t like.”

Collins said getting bipartisan agreement to fund 96% of the federal government was a “major step forward” toward returning the budget process to normal.

Congress has not passed its 12 individual funding bills on time, as required by law, since 1996. Instead, government has been funded through big omnibus bills, smaller minibus bills or continuing resolutions meant only to keep the lights on.

Eleven of the 12 appropriations bills have now been approved for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. Only the Department of Homeland Security bill remains, as lawmakers consider additional safeguards against the administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown, which led to the deaths of two Americans in Minnesota last month.

Casey Burgat, an associate professor and director of legislative affairs who specializes in the federal budget at George Washington University, said the appropriations process may have improved marginally with Collins at the helm, given last year’s shutdown and the recent need for several temporary funding patches.

But the budget bills still came months late, he noted.

“It’s kind of like comparing spoiled milk that is five days spoiled or four days spoiled,” Burgat said. “Can you make the case that four days is better, more fresh? Maybe, but it ultimately doesn’t really matter.”

The appropriations process was nearly derailed after Trump took office and began withholding and trying to cancel previously approved funding, largely headed to Democratic states.

But Collins’ committee was able to pass bipartisan budget bills, partly by including language in each bill to reassert Congress’ “power of the purse,” ostensibly making it more difficult for the administration to cancel funding without cause or the lawmakers’ approval.

That point was highlighted in a floor speech by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, who serves as vice chair of the committee.

Murray said the bills include specific funding levels and directives, which “takes power back from this corrupt president” and prevents his budget director, Russell Vought, from “robbing blue states of funding and using federal dollars for political retribution.”