From NBC News: Senate Republicans are making changes to a $9.4 billion package of spending cuts proposed by President Donald Trump as they race to pass the measure by a Friday deadline.
After a lunch meeting Tuesday with White House budget director Russell Vought, they agreed on one significant change: removing about $400 million in cuts to PEPFAR, the Bush-era foreign aid program to combat HIV/AIDS, which has been credited with saving millions of lives.
It was done with the aim of securing the simple majority needed to pass the rescissions package through the Senate, after several Republicans expressed opposition to those cuts.
Vought said: “There’s a substitute amendment that I think has a good chance of passing.
“PEPFAR will not be impacted by the rescissions.”
Senate Republicans plan to vote on a measure Tuesday evening, aiming to pass it on party lines by Friday. The amended bill will then need House approval.
“There was a lot of interest among our members in doing something on the PEPFAR issue, and so that’s reflected in the substitute,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.
“And we hope that if we can get this across the finish line in the Senate, that the House would accept that one small modification that ends up making the package still about a $9 billion rescissions package. A little less than what was sent over the House, but nonetheless a significant down payment on getting rid of waste, fraud, abuse in our government.”
Foreign aid and $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds PBS and NPR, are among the cuts.
Some Republicans object, citing the reliance of rural areas on these stations for essential matters like emergency alerts.
Thune said Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., who had concerns about rural broadcasting, reached an agreement with the White House to reprogram funding for the 28 CPB stations on Native American reservations.
READ MORE AT NBC News
