缅因州的苏珊·柯林斯正面临着共和党现任参议员在这个选举周期中遇到的最严峻的竞选挑战之一。她在竞选活动中向选民们强调自己的资历以及在参议院拨款委员会中的领导地位。然而，与她的许多共和党同僚一样，唐纳德·特朗普总统及其政府的政策对柯林斯的竞选活动反而起到了阻碍作用；最近白宫采取的、可能违法的举动进一步削弱了她的支持率。
Susan Collins of Maine is locked in one of the toughest campaigns an incumbent Republican senator faces this cycle. Her campaign pitch to her constituents leans, in large part, on her seniority and status atop the Senate Appropriations Committee. Like many of her GOP colleagues, President Donald Trump and his administration’s policies have proved more of a hinderance than help to Collins’ message, and the latest, likely illegal move out of the White House undercuts her appeal even further.
周四标志着华盛顿新财政年度的开始，同时也意味着上一年度的联邦拨款即将到期。除非国会在此之前通过12项年度拨款法案，否则联邦政府将面临关闭的危机。多亏了9月份通过的一项临时拨款法案（该法案将当前的支出水平维持到12月），这一危机才得以避免。作为参议院中负责拨款事务的共和党领袖，柯林斯在确保联邦政府在竞选期间不关闭方面发挥了关键作用；同时，预算谈判者们也在等待选举结果尘埃落定后再继续讨论相关事宜。
Thursday marks the beginning of a new fiscal year in Washington and the expiration of the previous year’s federal funding. The federal government will shut down unless Congress has passed 12 annual appropriations bills ahead of this turning point. That fate was averted thanks to a short-term funding bill passed in September locking in current spending levels until December. As the lead Republican appropriator in the Senate, Collins was crucial in making sure that the federal government wasn’t shut down during campaign season, while budget negotiators wait to see how the dust settles after the election.
背后的潜台词是：如果我被撤职，政府可能会失去数百万美元的联邦项目拨款。
The subtext: get rid of me, potentially lose out on millions of dollars in federal project funding.
根据联邦法律，行政部门各部委和机构必须按照国会的拨款规定来使用这些资金。
The executive branch’s various departments and agencies are required to spend appropriated funds in the ways that Congress’ funding laws instruct them.
然而，管理和预算局局长拉塞尔·沃特却拒绝遵守这些规定。在过去两年里，他一直拒绝执行国会的明确指示，擅自决定哪些项目应该获得拨款。在此过程中，沃特不得不规避《扣押控制法》——这项法律禁止白宫随意扣留或拒绝拨款。
Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought disagrees. For the last two years, he’s refused to follow the legislative branch’s clear directions — appointing himself the final arbiter on which programs are worthy of funding. In the process, Vought has to dodge the Impound Control Act, a law that prevents the White House from holding back, or “impounding,” funds at the president’s discretion.
上周五晚上，沃特通知国会，政府将取消议员们已经批准的近10亿美元的支出计划。
Last Friday evening, Vought sent Congress notification that the administration would be cancelling almost $1 billion in spending lawmakers had approved.
据美联社报道，大部分削减的预算集中在卫生与公众服务部的项目上，这些项目旨在为难民和被指控非法入境的无人陪伴未成年人提供服务，此外还涉及教育部、司法部以及住房和城市发展部的项目。
“Most of the cuts are focused on Health and Human Services programs that serve refugees and unaccompanied minors accused of being in the country illegally,” The Associated Press reported along with programs at the departments of Education, Justice, and Housing and Urban Development.
这份通知表面上也是向立法者提出的请求，要求他们考虑撤销这些支出。《扣押控制法》允许总统在国会辩论拟议的撤销案期间暂时扣留这些资金。但考虑到沃特（Vought）发出信息的时间，国会批准这些削减措施的窗口期已经超过了本财年的截止日期。按照他的逻辑，这种所谓的“口袋撤销”意味着这些资金实际上已经凭空消失了。
The notification ostensibly doubled as a request to lawmakers to consider rescinding that spending. The Impound Control Act allows the president to temporarily hold those funds while Congress debates the proposed rescission. But given the timing of Vought’s message, the window for Congress to sign off on the cuts extended past the end of the fiscal year. By his reasoning, this so-called “pocket rescission” means that the money has effectively evaporated into the ether.
“非常严峻”：缅因州的经济前景如何影响其关键的参议院竞选，2026年9月24日。白宫去年也采取了同样的手段，这令拨款委员会成员和负责对行政部门进行国会监督的政府问责局（GAO）感到非常不安。在周二致众议院和参议院领导层的一封信中，政府问责局再次确认，无论时间如何，白宫扣留资金的行为都是非法的。
‘Really Grim’: How Maine’s economic outlook is affecting its crucial Senate race September 24, 2026 The White House pulled the same maneuver last year much to the consternation of appropriators and the Government Accountability Office, which provides congressional oversight of the executive branch. In a letter sent Tuesday to House and Senate leadership, the GAO again confirmed that the White House withholding funds is illegal no matter the timing.
“任何超过到期日扣留拨款的行为，无论金额大小，都破坏了制定联邦法律的宪法程序以及国会掌握的宪法财权，”政府问责局总法律顾问埃达·埃马努埃利·佩雷斯（Edda Emmanuelli Perez）写道。“总统不得强行终止国会已经颁布且未撤销的预算授权。”值得称赞的是，柯林斯（Collins）立即站出来反对白宫的这一举动。
“Any withholding of appropriated funds beyond their date of expiration, regardless of size, subverts both the constitutional process for enacting federal law and Congress’ constitutional power of the purse,”wrote Edda Emmanuelli Perez, the GAO’s general counsel. “The President may not force the expiration of budget authority Congress has already enacted and did not rescind.”To her credit, Collins immediately came out against the White House’s move.
“这种延误本身就属于未经国会批准的行为；同时，这也侵犯了国会的拨款权力，”柯林斯在一份声明中表示。“行政办公室（OMB）无权决定哪些项目值得资助，”她补充道，并表示自己将“与同事们合作，以解决这些违法行为。”
“Not only is the delay itself an impoundment that was not reported to Congress, but also it is a usurpation of Congress’s appropriations powers,” Collins said in a statement OMB “does not get to decide which programs are worth funding,” she continued, adding that she means to “work with my colleagues to address these illegal actions.”
这位参议员的愤怒显然带有明显的个人利益动机。正如《华盛顿太阳报》的阿尔·韦弗最近在缅因州报道的那样：“看看她的广告或竞选活动，其核心信息非常明确：她负责为重建消防站或其他能够创造就业机会的本地项目争取资金。”这种以利益交换为基础的政治手段，曾经使得‘拨款委员会’成为国会中最令人垂涎的委员会之一。
There’s clear self-interest baked into the senator’s outrage. As The Washington Sun’s Al Weaver recently noted when reporting in Maine, “check out a sampling of her ads or campaign appearances and the message is clear: She’s responsible for securing money to rebuild a fire station or other local projects that generate jobs.”It’s the kind of transactional politicking that once made a seat on Appropriations one of the most coveted committee assignments in Congress.
不过，柯林斯也在与公众对特朗普政策的普遍不满情绪作斗争——尤其是特朗普与加拿大的贸易战进一步加剧了这种不满情绪。因此，她不得不设法与白宫保持距离，而作为立法者，她为缅因州带来的就业机会和资金自然成为了她这一策略的关键支撑。
Collins is also fighting against the general tide of dismay at Trump’s policies, most recently bolstered by his trade war with Canada This has forced her to find ways to place distance between herself and the White House, and leaning on the jobs and money she brings to Maine as a legislator is a key part of that strategy.
然而，ProPublica最近的一项调查却损害了柯林斯的政治形象。该调查聚焦于联邦调查局（FBI）对一名政府承包商涉嫌非法捐赠给柯林斯竞选活动的调查；不过在特朗普重组司法部期间，这名承包商的相关证据已被销毁。（FBI在给ProPublica的声明中表示：“最终并未发现任何能证明柯林斯或她的竞选团队有罪的证据。”）
But a recent ProPublica investigation has tarnished the luster on Collins’ record. The report centered on an FBI investigation into potentially illegal campaign donations from a government contractor that vanished under Trump’s purge of the Justice Department. (The FBI told ProPublica in a statement that it “ultimately found nothing implicating Senator Collins or Senator Collins’ campaign.” A staffer for Collins told ProPublica via email the senator’s office participated in the FBI’s probe, and it “‘vigorously denies allegations of bribery and pay-for-play made by Kao, calling his claims ‘outlandish.’”)
当白宫正竭力掌控所有权力时，向选民强调“金钱的威力”其实毫无意义……即便没有ProPublica的那篇报道，特朗普对国会特权的系统性侵蚀也已经让柯林斯的连任竞选变得困难重重。当白宫正加班加点地试图将财政大权揽入怀中时，向选民强调国会的“钱袋子”权力已毫无意义。同样，如果白宫可以随时收回任何不符合其意识形态的支出，她也无法确保联邦资金能够顺利拨付给缅因州。
There’s little point in highlighting the power of the purse to voters when the White House is working overtime to seize the strings for itself. Even without the ProPublica report, Trump systematically wearing away at congressional prerogatives has made Collins’ re-election bid much more difficult. There’s little point in highlighting the power of the purse to voters when the White House is working overtime to seize the strings for itself. She likewise can’t ensure federal dollars flow to Maine if the White House can turn around and claw back any spending that doesn’t fit its ideology.
如果柯林斯最终胜选，她将需要努力说服共和党同僚，这项权力值得他们拼尽全力去捍卫。对于像沃特（Vought）这样藐视国会并扣留资金的政府官员，她所在的委员会提交的每一项支出法案都应附加明确的惩罚条款。遗憾的是，鉴于她有太多的同事满足于让白宫肆无忌惮地凌驾于他们的意愿之上，这种情况似乎不太可能发生。
If Collins does win, she would need to work to convince her fellow Republicans that this power is one worth fighting tooth and nail to protect. Explicit penalties for administration staffers like Vought who defy Congress and withhold funds should be attached to every spending bill that comes from her committee. Unfortunately, that seems unlikely when so many of her colleagues are content to let the White House override their wishes with impunity.
文章：特朗普如何破坏苏珊·柯林斯的连任竞选纲领 MS NOW
The post How Trump is sabotaging Susan Collins’ re-election pitch MS NOW