Diabetes research: the $200 million figure
What they say
In a July op-ed she says that as Appropriations chair she secured a record $200 million for the Special Diabetes Program in this year's funding legislation.
“Earlier this year, as Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I secured a record $200 million for the National Institutes of Health’s Special Diabetes Program in this year’s funding legislation.”
Source: Collins for Senator
What the record shows ·
Section 6402 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, Public Law 119-75, signed February 3, 2026, sets the Special Diabetes Program for Type 1 diabetes at $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2026, against $159,228,188 for 2025 and $155,619,196 for 2024. The program's schedule in the U.S. Code has no year before 2024 above $150,000,000, so $200 million is the largest annual amount it has had. She voted Yea when the Senate passed the act 71 to 29 on January 30 (Roll Call 20). Her own reauthorization bill, S. 2211, introduced in July 2025, had asked for $160,000,000 a year.
Sources: Congress.gov, U.S. Government Publishing Office, U.S. Government Publishing Office, Congress.gov
Limit: The amount, the year and the word record are borne out by the law. "I secured" is a claim about her part in writing it, which no roll call settles: she chaired the committee that produced the year's spending bills and voted for the package, and the enacted amount is larger than her own bill asked for, but the health extensions in it are authorizing provisions that other committees also shaped.