Vice President JD Vance cast two decisive tie-breaking votes in the Senate on Tuesday to push forward a $9.4 billion rescissions package, which includes steep funding cuts to public broadcasters NPR and PBS.
The Senate split evenly, 50-50, on a pair of procedural votes that would open debate on the sweeping rollback of previously allocated federal funds. Vance’s intervention tipped the scales, advancing the measure — originally requested by the White House — for full consideration in the upper chamber.
Three Republican senators — Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Susan Collins of Maine — crossed the aisle to vote with all Democrats in opposing the bill.
The package, which passed the House last month in a narrow 214-212 vote, proposes slashing around $8.3 billion from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and another $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the umbrella organization that partially funds NPR and PBS.
A proposed $400 million cut to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is likely to be removed from the bill through an amendment before it comes up for a final vote.
“There was a lot of interest from our members on doing something on PEPFAR,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), following a closed-door meeting with Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought. “That’s reflected in the substitute.”
Thune added, “We hope that if we can get this across the finish line in the Senate, that the House will accept that one small modification that ends up making the package about a $9 billion rescissions package.”
Senator Collins explained her opposition by criticizing the lack of transparency from OMB, saying lawmakers weren’t provided with the specifics of what programs would be affected by the sweeping clawbacks.
“The rescissions package has a big problem – nobody really knows what program reductions are in it,” Collins said in a statement. “That isn’t because we haven’t had time to review the bill. Instead, the problem is that OMB has never provided the details that would normally be part of this process.”
She pointed to $2.5 billion in proposed cuts from the “Development Assistance account,” which she said includes funding for essential services such as education, water and sanitation, and food security. “We don’t know how those programs will be affected,” she warned.
Collins also criticized the scale of cuts to public broadcasting, calling them “excessive” and warning they could jeopardize access to beloved programming.
“I share the frustration with the biased reporting by NPR, and I would support defunding it,” she acknowledged. “Nevertheless, local TV and radio stations continue to provide important coverage.”
She highlighted that CPB funding helps maintain Maine’s emergency alert system and enables the broadcast of local events like high school basketball games. “We should know exactly what programs are affected and the consequences of rescissions,” she emphasized.
With the procedural hurdle cleared, the Senate now has at least 10 hours of debate before any amendments can be voted on, leading up to a final decision. Once the Senate finalizes its version of the bill, the House will need to revisit it to approve any modifications.
{Matzav.com}