PORTLAND – With Republicans taking control of the U.S. Senate, Sen. Susan Collins will lead the Senate committee that has been dealing with creation of a new Homeland Security Department.

Collins, ranking Republican on the Governmental Affairs Committee, expects to become chairwoman of the panel in January. Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the current chairman, will become ranking Democrat.

It may be hard to believe, but Collins will be the first Maine senator to lead a committee since the late Edmund Muskie was chairman of the Budget Committee in the 1970s, said Felicia Knight, Collins’ spokeswoman.

Former Sen. George Mitchell served as Democratic leader in the Senate but was never chairman of a committee during his tenure.

Former Sen. William S. Cohen was ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee, among other assignments, but never chairman.

The Governmental Affairs Committee has been in the news because it’s the panel that held hearings on the Homeland Security Department bill.

Creation of the new agency has been stalled in a partisan dispute over workplace rules, and President Bush has asked lawmakers to make the Homeland Security Department their top priority.

“It’s going to be a committee that continues to be active, especially for the next couple of years,” said Anthony Corrado, professor of government at Colby College in Waterville.

Collins won re-election by turning back a challenge from Democrat Chellie Pingree 59 percent to 41 percent, according to unofficial returns, with 98 percent of precincts reporting.

The Governmental Affairs Committee was Collins’ first choice for committee assignments six years ago when she came to Washington after winning the seat that was vacated by Cohen.

That, coupled with Collins’ seniority on the panel, means she’ll get the nod to lead the panel now that the Republicans have gained a majority in the Senate, Knight said.

The committee lifted Collins’ profile when she arrived in Washington because under former Sen. Fred D. Thompson, R-Tenn., the panel looked into improper campaign activities in 1996 presidential and congressional races.

Collins’ performance during the hearings, along with hearings she led on sweepstakes fraud as chairwoman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, served to lift her profile, Corrado said.

“It is clearly the case that Susan Collins proved to have a very high profile for a first-term member of the Senate,” the professor said.

Now, as she begins her second term, the Governmental Affairs Committee will once again play a role in putting Collins in the news, he said. She is the senior Republican on the panel because of Thompson’s retirement.