AUGUSTA —  Sen. Susan Collins on Thursday challenged President Donald Trump’s authority to withhold $3 billion in emergency funding approved in the stopgap budget bill passed last week to prevent a federal government shutdown.

Trump informed the Congress on Monday that he is withholding 11 appropriations that he said “stem from the June 2023 side deal with Democrats to evade the spending caps.”

“I do not concur that the added spending is truly an emergency,” Trump said.

Collins, the Republican chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat who serves as the committee vice chair, protested the move in a letter Thursday to Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, saying the president does not have the authority to withhold that funding.

“(Trump) must concur with all or none of Congress’ emergency designations,” Collins and Murray wrote. “Just as the President does not have a line-item veto, he does not have the ability to pick and choose which emergency spending to designate.”

The pair also criticized the administration for not informing them directly of the move, which they learned from media reports.

Collins voted to confirm Vought as budget director even though he has publicly expressed the view that the president can withhold congressionally approved funding he doesn’t agree with.

Other lawmakers, including Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, railed against that view as unconstitutional — since it’s Congress that holds the power of the purse — when voting against his nomination.

Collins, meanwhile, said she supported Vought because of his experience doing the same job in the previous Trump administration and said that any disputes over presidential impoundment of congressionally approved funding would be an issue for the courts to sort out.

“If there are impoundments, I believe it will end up in court, and my hope is the court will rule in favor of the 1974 Impoundment and Budget Control Act,” Collins said last month.

Vought’s memo to the committee noted that the continuing resolution approved last week included $12.6 billion in emergency funding for the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, and State, as well as international and other domestic programs.

Vought said the administration will only move forward with 16 emergency accounts, leaving out 11 other accounts.

It’s unclear exactly which priorities would not be funded as a result of Trump’s actions.

Collins aides did not respond to questions Thursday afternoon.

Semafor reported on Monday that Trump’s cuts focused mostly on foreign aid, including migration and refugee assistance for nongovernmental organizations and economic development money for Moldova and Georgia. It also targeted diversity, equity and inclusion projects.

The moves are not surprising, given Trump’s first two months in office, but could raise tensions with Congress.

Collins was named the appropriations chair this year — a position that gives her influence over of billions of dollars of discretionary spending. She has delivered more than a billion dollars in funding for projects in Maine since 2021 when earmarks, also known as congressionally directed spending, were restored, her office has said.

PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES

But Trump and his cabinet have been pushing the boundaries of presidential authority, including spending. He has empowered billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Governmental Efficiency to make deep cuts to the federal government, spending and the workforce, including the effort to end the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Collins, who is up for reelection in 2026, has intervened repeatedly to prevent and push back against funding cuts in Maine.

Collins and Murray said in their letter that the administration’s move adds uncertainty to the appropriations process.

“We are concerned that sudden changes to OMB’s interpretation of long-standing statutory provisions could be disruptive to the appropriations process and make it more difficult for the Appropriations Committee to work in a collaborative fashion with the administration to advance priorities on behalf of the American people,” they said. “Collaboration will become even more challenging when the committee is first informed of such developments through the press, rather than notified through official channels, as was the case here.”