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| Republicans start vote-a-rama on bill for $9bn public broadcasting and aid cuts | |
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| GOP aiming to meet Friday deadline mandated by law for bill, known as a rescissions package, to pass Congress | GOP aiming to meet Friday deadline mandated by law for bill, known as a rescissions package, to pass Congress |
| US politics live – latest updates | US politics live – latest updates |
| What are rescissions – and why does Trump want Congress to approve them? | What are rescissions – and why does Trump want Congress to approve them? |
| Senate Republicans on Wednesday moved to pass legislation slashing up to $9bn in funds Congress had earlier approved for foreign aid programs and public broadcasting, as part of Donald Trump’s campaign of dramatic government spending cuts. | Senate Republicans on Wednesday moved to pass legislation slashing up to $9bn in funds Congress had earlier approved for foreign aid programs and public broadcasting, as part of Donald Trump’s campaign of dramatic government spending cuts. |
| The GOP is racing to meet a Friday deadline mandated by law for the bill, known as a rescissions package, to pass Congress, otherwise the Trump administration will be forced to spend the money. The Senate advanced the measure on Tuesday evening, with JD Vance breaking a tie on a procedural vote, after three Republican senators joined with all Democrats in opposition. | The GOP is racing to meet a Friday deadline mandated by law for the bill, known as a rescissions package, to pass Congress, otherwise the Trump administration will be forced to spend the money. The Senate advanced the measure on Tuesday evening, with JD Vance breaking a tie on a procedural vote, after three Republican senators joined with all Democrats in opposition. |
| On Wednesday afternoon, the Senate began a vote-a-rama on the bill, where lawmakers from both parties can offer and vote on amendments to the measure. | |
| The package will cancel $1.1bn budgeted for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS, and about $8bn meant for foreign assistance programs. But some Republicans have blanched at those cuts, and the Senate majority leader, John Thune, said he had agreed with demands to preserve $400m in funding for Pepfar, a program credited with saving millions of people from infection or death from HIV that was created under George W Bush in 2003. | The package will cancel $1.1bn budgeted for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS, and about $8bn meant for foreign assistance programs. But some Republicans have blanched at those cuts, and the Senate majority leader, John Thune, said he had agreed with demands to preserve $400m in funding for Pepfar, a program credited with saving millions of people from infection or death from HIV that was created under George W Bush in 2003. |
| “There was a lot of interest among our members in doing something on the Pepfar issue,” Thune told reporters. | “There was a lot of interest among our members in doing something on the Pepfar issue,” Thune told reporters. |
| That change will require the bill to be voted on again by the House, defying a plea from Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker, that the Senate GOP “pass it as is”. | That change will require the bill to be voted on again by the House, defying a plea from Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker, that the Senate GOP “pass it as is”. |
| Thune has described the rescissions package as “commonsense legislation” that will target “waste, fraud and abuse” in government spending, a term Republicans have deployed repeatedly since Trump took office to criticize programs they seek to cut. Some cuts, he said, were recommended by the so-called “department of government efficiency” downsizing initiative that was previously led by Elon Musk. | Thune has described the rescissions package as “commonsense legislation” that will target “waste, fraud and abuse” in government spending, a term Republicans have deployed repeatedly since Trump took office to criticize programs they seek to cut. Some cuts, he said, were recommended by the so-called “department of government efficiency” downsizing initiative that was previously led by Elon Musk. |
| “My Democrat colleagues may not want to acknowledge it, but we have a serious spending problem in this country,” Thune said during a floor speech on Tuesday. “And the very least we can do in response is to target some of the egregious misuses of taxpayer dollars that we are addressing today in this bill.” | “My Democrat colleagues may not want to acknowledge it, but we have a serious spending problem in this country,” Thune said during a floor speech on Tuesday. “And the very least we can do in response is to target some of the egregious misuses of taxpayer dollars that we are addressing today in this bill.” |
| While Democrats can use the Senate’s filibuster to stop the chamber from considering most legislation they oppose, a rescissions package can be passed with a simple majority. The Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, has warned that the bill is the beginning of a push by the Trump administration to reshape government services. | While Democrats can use the Senate’s filibuster to stop the chamber from considering most legislation they oppose, a rescissions package can be passed with a simple majority. The Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, has warned that the bill is the beginning of a push by the Trump administration to reshape government services. |
| “This package, as bad as it is, is a piece of a larger puzzle for Republicans. Their goal is to use rescissions, impoundment and pocket rescissions to eradicate any bit of bipartisanship out of appropriations, and that will pave the way for deeper and more serious spending cuts on things like healthcare, food assistance, energy and so many other areas,” he said. | “This package, as bad as it is, is a piece of a larger puzzle for Republicans. Their goal is to use rescissions, impoundment and pocket rescissions to eradicate any bit of bipartisanship out of appropriations, and that will pave the way for deeper and more serious spending cuts on things like healthcare, food assistance, energy and so many other areas,” he said. |
| It remains unclear if the bill has enough support among Senate Republicans to win final passage. Susan Collins, who represents blue state Maine and is expected to face a fierce re-election challenge next year, has criticized the package for slashing funds for important programs, rather than those identified as wasteful by the Trump administration. | It remains unclear if the bill has enough support among Senate Republicans to win final passage. Susan Collins, who represents blue state Maine and is expected to face a fierce re-election challenge next year, has criticized the package for slashing funds for important programs, rather than those identified as wasteful by the Trump administration. |
| “This rescissions package, for the most part, has nothing to do with the lengthy list of questionable activities identified by the administration that were paid for with prior year funds,” she said late last month, as she chaired a Senate appropriations committee hearing into the request. On Tuesday, she was among the trio of Republicans who voted against opening debate on the bill, along with Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the former leader of the Senate GOP. | “This rescissions package, for the most part, has nothing to do with the lengthy list of questionable activities identified by the administration that were paid for with prior year funds,” she said late last month, as she chaired a Senate appropriations committee hearing into the request. On Tuesday, she was among the trio of Republicans who voted against opening debate on the bill, along with Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the former leader of the Senate GOP. |
| While agreeing with her fellow Republicans that programing on PBS and NPR had “a discernibly partisan bent”, Collins said she believed there were “more targeted approaches to addressing that bias at NPR than rescinding all of the funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting”. | While agreeing with her fellow Republicans that programing on PBS and NPR had “a discernibly partisan bent”, Collins said she believed there were “more targeted approaches to addressing that bias at NPR than rescinding all of the funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting”. |
| Murkowski and Collins, both moderates, have also criticized the Trump administration for not offering enough details of which specific programs they sought to cut. | Murkowski and Collins, both moderates, have also criticized the Trump administration for not offering enough details of which specific programs they sought to cut. |
| “It’s unclear to me how the specific accounts that are targeted for the rescission are going to be impacted,” Murkowski said. “Neither the administration, nor others have been able to provide that, that very clear, very transparent explanation about the programs and the priorities that are going to be cut as a result of the measure.” | “It’s unclear to me how the specific accounts that are targeted for the rescission are going to be impacted,” Murkowski said. “Neither the administration, nor others have been able to provide that, that very clear, very transparent explanation about the programs and the priorities that are going to be cut as a result of the measure.” |