WASHINGTON – The Senate took a major step toward guaranteeing that small and rural states continue to receive a sizable slice of homeland security spending by voting 65-32 Tuesday against a proposal that would have shifted the allocation to states that may be most at risk of terrorist attack.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., described the vote as a victory for pork-barrel politics that spread money where it wasn’t urgently needed over a policy that focused spending on areas of the greatest need, such as California and New York.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said that Feinstein’s legislation would have taken at least $8 million from each of 43 states, including Maine, and given it instead to California, New York and other populous states.

The vote came after a daylong debate that pitted a handful of big and urban states with high-profile terrorist targets against small and rural states not often considered likely sites for terrorism.