From Fox News: Senate Republicans again coalesced behind President Donald Trump’s multibillion-dollar spending clawback package and propelled the legislation through its final procedural hurdle, again with the aid of Vice President JD Vance.
Lawmakers will now go back and forth through 10 hours of debate on the bill, where Senate Democrats are expected to bleed time and slam the legislation for its cuts to foreign aid and public broadcasting funding.
Trump’s smaller, $9 billion package passed with nearly all Senate Republicans, while all Senate Democrats voted against it. Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., were the only Republicans to vote against the bill.
Once debate has wrapped up on the bill, lawmakers will go through another vote-a-rama, where an unlimited number of amendments can be offered for the bill by either side of the aisle. Democrats will likely try to sideline or derail the package, while the GOP is expected to offer an amendment that would spare about $400 million in international HIV and AIDS funding from the chopping block.
Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), announced that the proposed rescissions package has enough votes to pass the Senate after an agreement with Senate Republican leaders. The agreement included an amendment to eliminate reductions to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the global initiative started by President George W. Bush in 2003 to combat AIDS, The Hill reported.
Additionally, Vought collaborated with Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) on 28 radio stations at risk of adverse effects due to the $1.1 billion in cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The agreement redirects funds from the Interior Department to support stations across 14 states that broadcast onto tribal lands.
Securing Rounds’ support for the package constitutes a significant victory for the White House and Senate Republican leaders, as they can only afford to lose three Republican votes and still achieve passage of the package.
SMALLER BEAUTIFUL BILL: Senate shrinks Trump’s spending cut package ahead of a key vote
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