US Senate (Washington Insider) - The Senate narrowly approved a $9 billion rescissions package targeting foreign aid and public media, advancing President Trump's proposal to the House.
Moderate Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine broke with one another to support the final proposal. Later on Thursday, the House is anticipated to consider the updated measure.
A Republican substitute that removed a $400 million rescission to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a well-known anti-HIV program, and prohibited any further rescissions from removing funding for agriculture and nutrition assistance as well as certain country-specific grants, including to Jordan and Egypt, was adopted by senators 52-47, ending a 13-hour vote-a-rama.
The Senate took almost two dozen votes on the replacement, with only one Republican, Rand Paul of Kentucky, voting against it.
Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, both moderate Republicans, split with each other to back the final plan. The House is expected to consider the amended proposal later Thursday.
After a 13-hour vote-a-rama, senators 52-47 approved a Republican substitute that eliminated a $400 million rescission to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a well-known anti-HIV program, and forbade any additional rescissions from removing funding for nutrition and agriculture assistance as well as certain country-specific grants, including to Jordan and Egypt.
Only one Republican, Rand Paul of Kentucky, voted against the replacement, which was decided by over two dozen votes in the Senate.
Collins and Murkowski also supported other Democratic proposals to weaken the bill, such as one from Virginia's Tim Kaine that would prohibit rescissions to the International Development and Migration and Refugee Assistance accounts from affecting contracts for faith-based organizations. The vote against Kaine's amendment was 48–51.
In order to prevent rescissions that would limit children's access to educational programs on public television, the two also supported a move to recommit the bill. Edward J. Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, made the motion, but it was rejected 47–50. Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona, made the rare offer of a substitute amendment written by Collins, which she had previously chosen not to propose. The amendment would remove many of the package's rescissions.
The approval vote was a win for the Trump administration, which wants to codify cutbacks made by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and use the rescissions process to reduce federal expenditure. However, Democrats cautioned their Republican counterparts about the long-term damage to the chamber's appropriations process, which requires bipartisan backing to move spending measures due to a 60-vote barrier.
“We have never, never before seen bipartisan investments, slashed through a partisan rescissions package. Do not start now,” Senate Appropriations ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash., said in a floor speech Wednesday. “Not when we are working, at this very moment, in a bipartisan way to pass our spending bills.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., acknowledged the argument put forth by Democrats that the annual appropriations process would be damaged if a precedent is set that spending agreements could be canceled whenever one party has unified control of the White House and Congress.
“If I’m a Democrat and you’re trying to get me to vote and get to a 60-vote threshold to fund the government and you’ve just betrayed a prior agreement and a prior appropriation, what is the likelihood that they will do that,”
Tillis said in a floor speech.
In addition, Tillis threatened to withdraw his support for any further rescission packages if the White House failed to fulfill promises that non-military aid to Ukraine would not be included in the rescissions of foreign aid.
If Trump and Russ Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, present more rescission packages to Congress, Democrats are also predicting more difficult vote-a-ramas, which will further reduce the Senate's limited floor time.
There have already been lengthy vote-a-ramas this year, including one on the Republican reconciliation package less than a month ago that lasted 27 hours and another on the GOP budget resolution that lasted six hours with 21 votes in April.
What process does the House need to follow to approve the Senate’s amended version by the Friday deadline?
Once the Senate passes its amended version, the bill returns to the House. For the package to become law, both chambers must agree to the exact same text.
House leadership schedules the amended bill for a vote.
Debate time is limited—typically just two hours in the House for a rescissions package, expediting procedures compared to other legislation. Passage requires a simple majority (more than half of the voting members).
Unlike typical appropriations bills, filibusters or extended debate are not permitted in the Senate, and the House process is similarly streamlined for rescissions.
If the House votes to approve the Senate’s version without further amendment, the measure is sent directly to the President for signature.
If the House amends the Senate bill, it must return to the Senate for agreement before the deadline, which adds complexity and risks missing the deadline.