Sen. Lisa Murkowski plans to lead Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee in the next Congress, positioning the Alaska lawmaker for a more prominent role in federal spending debates and oversight of the Trump administration.

Murkowski will seek to become the panel’s ranking member after the reelection defeat of its current chair, Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, Murkowski spokesperson Joseph Plesha told POLITICO on Monday. Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, is set to chair the committee.

The move could bring greater attention to Murkowski’s priorities on energy, the environment and defense, even though she would not hold the gavel. It would also give a frequent antagonist of the Trump administration a powerful position from which to scrutinize White House spending decisions.

Senate Republicans are expected to settle committee leadership assignments early next year. Murkowski is expected to receive the ranking member post as the committee’s most senior Republican, although Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas is reportedly considering a challenge.

Murkowski has been the top Republican on the Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee for more than 15 years and often highlights her bipartisan work with Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the panel’s ranking Democrat. Merkley is in line to become subcommittee chair. Murkowski would be entitled to remain its top Republican, but it is unclear whether she will do so.

Murkowski and Murray have a good relationship and are expected to work together, including against administration efforts to withhold funding approved by Congress.

Their negotiations will unfold amid an unresolved funding deadline. The federal government is funded through Dec. 11, and appropriators are expected to push the deadline into next year. Democrats’ efforts to use the spending fight to halt funding for the war against Iran could complicate that process.

In an interview last week with Alaska radio station KNOM, Murkowski said Collins’ departure would put her in “a position of higher leadership” on the committee. She said she wanted to help repair what she called “a broken process in the Congress.”

Murkowski also cited high prices and the effects of a changing climate among constituents’ concerns. She discussed Alaska’s energy challenges and the potential for battery storage, small modular nuclear reactors, wind power and other renewable sources.