Earmarks returning to Congress, where Maine’s delegation has outsize influence in the right places The member-driven spending initiatives, with guardrails in place, could fund critical projects in Maine. Share Earmarks – member-requested funding initiatives – are returning to Congress after a decadelong ban, giving Maine nonprofits, municipalities, counties and state government a chance to ask their representatives for federal funding for specific projects. Maine’s senior members in each chamber have influential positions on the appropriations committees, where the final decisions will be made on which of the projects submitted by members are funded. Rep. Chellie Pingree chairs the House subcommittee that controls the purse strings for the Environmental Protection Agency and most Interior Department agencies. Sen. Susan Collins is the ranking Republican on the Senate subcommittee that appropriates funds for the departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development.