Sen. Susan Collins criticized parts of President Donald Trump’s 2026 budget proposal Friday and said the Senate spending committee that she chairs has set an “aggressive” hearing schedule to learn more about the president’s plans.

Trump on Friday unveiled a $1.7 trillion discretionary budget blueprint that includes $163 billion in spending cuts to non-military programs.

The administration also pledged to increase defense spending, although those plans were criticized by Collins and some other Republicans who said the inclusion of the increases in a supplemental reconciliation bill overlooks the need for increases in baseline defense spending.

“The president’s budget request is simply one step in the annual budget process,” Collins said in a written statement Friday. “This request has come to Congress late, and key details still remain outstanding.

“Based on my initial review, however, I have serious objections to the proposed freeze in our defense funding given the security challenges we face and to the proposed funding cuts to – and in some cases elimination of – programs like LIHEAP, TRIO, and those that support biomedical research.”

Collins will play a key role in shaping the budget as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which oversees decisions on all discretionary federal spending.

“The Appropriations Committee has an aggressive hearing schedule to learn more about the president’s proposal and assess funding needs for the coming year,” Collins said.

A spokesperson for Collins said Friday that the president’s budget proposal would eliminate both TRIO and the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. TRIO is a federal program providing outreach and support services for postsecondary students from disadvantaged backgrounds, while LIHEAP helps homeowners and renters pay for heat.

Some other Republican senators also criticized Trump’s military spending plans Friday.

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a written statement that the White House Office of Management and Budget has proposed “a fifth year straight of Biden administration funding, leaving military spending flat, which is a cut in real terms.”

“I have said for months that reconciliation defense spending does not replace the need for real growth in the military’s base budget,” Wicker said.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, said the budget proposal “will double down on the Biden administration’s material neglect for the glaring national security threats, challenges about which they speak with great alarm.” 

“Make no mistake: a one-time influx of reconciliation spending is not a substitute for full-year appropriations,” McConnell said in a written statement. “It’s a supplement.”

The White House said in budget documents that including defense spending increases in a reconciliation bill “ensures that the money is available when needed, and not held hostage by Democrats to force wasteful non-defense discretionary spending increases as was the case in the president’s first term.”

Missing from Trump’s plan were details relating to income taxes, tariffs, entitlement programs and the budget deficit.

The nation’s estimated $7 trillion-plus federal budget has been growing steadily, with annual deficits fast approaching $2 trillion and the annual interest payments on the debt almost $1 trillion. That’s thanks mostly to the spike in emergency COVID-19 pandemic spending, changes in the tax code that reduced revenues and the climbing costs of Medicare, Medicaid and other programs, largely to cover the nation’s health needs as people age.

Administration officials said a fuller budget will come soon with plans to address the drivers of the annual deficit.

‘PERSONAL VANITY PROJECTS’

A spokesperson for Maine’s other senator, independent Angus King, declined to comment on the Trump’s proposal, noting that it is not binding.

Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, said the proposed budget shifts money from arts and culture programming to “personal vanity projects,” including a sculpture-filled “Garden of American Heroes,” arguing in a post on social media that Trump is attempting to redefine American culture and history on his own terms.

In a written statement, Pingree said proposed a 55% cut to the Environmental Protection Agency would “cripple” its ability to conduct research into toxic pollutants and gut funding for clean water initiatives, while a 40% cut to the National Institutes of Health would undermine progress finding cures for diseases like Alzheimer’s.

“It won’t do anything to lower prices or improve services. It will only put more burden on state and local budgets that are already stretched to the max,” Pingree said. “Congress must decisively reject this dangerous roadmap of cultural destruction and corporate pocket-lining before irreparable damage is done to our country.”

Rep. Jared Golden, D-2nd District, said there were parts of Trump’s plan he could agree on, including increased funding for law enforcement along the border and in international trade, but said he could not sign onto a plan to eliminate LIHEAP, “which would leave tens of thousands of Maine households in the cold.”

“Right now, my focus is on opposing the GOP’s reconciliation plan to fund tax cuts for the wealthy by slashing health care for my constituents and running up the deficit,” Golden said in a written statement. “My staff and I will continue to review the details of the president’s budget request, while remaining focused on protecting health care this year.”

Staff Writer Daniel Kool contributed to this report, which contains material from the Associated Press.