Congress will go back into session for just a few weeks after the Thanksgiving break and will have to agree on several key spending bills.
Maine Sen. Susan Collins is taking a lead role in trying to shepherd one of those measures through in the short time available.
“Getting my transportation and housing appropriations bill through is my top priority,” she says. “That is very important to our state and nation.”
Collins says that in addition to federal highway grants that come to Maine based on state population, there is also a competitive project grant program that has brought in extra federal funds for bridge and road repairs and replacement.
"Something that is extraordinarily important to the state of Maine,” she says. “I have been able to fund every year a special program that used to be called TIGER grants, but are now called BUILD grants.”
