DOGE cuts on Senate agenda in busy week for lawmakers

UPI

16 hours ago

1 of 2 | The Senate is set to consider a plan this week that will withhold funding from foreign aid and public broadcasting. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
July 14 (UPI) -- Lawmakers will have a busy week in Washington as senators consider a GOP plan with a Friday deadline to pull back billions of dollars that hits foreign aid and public broadcasting.
The Senate will hold yet another "vote-a-rama" after the House in June approved a Republican-crafted rescission package in a 214-212 vote to rescind some $9.4 trillion in federal money.
It seeks to claw back already-approved funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting -- which funds PBS and NPR -- and cuts cash for the U.S. Agency for International Development, which was targeted this year by the Elon Musk-run Department of Government Efficiency.
Trump has long attacked both NPR and PBS over a perceived bias. In May, he signed an executive order to halt federal streams.
But concerns exist among some Republican members over cuts to public broadcasting and the 22-year-old President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief under USAID.
Trump last week threatened to withhold political support for any Republican who opposed the legislation.
"What we're trying to do is ensure that every dollar spent by the federal government is used efficiently and effectively," House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in June on the package.
Last month, four House Republicans broke from GOP ranks to vote against the proposed cuts. But Republicans can afford to lose only three votes this week in the Senate and still have it pass the upper chamber.
"I want to strike the rescission of funds for PEPFAR, which has an enormous record of success, having saved some 26 million lives over the course of the program, as well as preventing nearly 8 million infants from receiving AIDS from their infected mothers," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said previously.
PEPFAR came to life under then-Republican President George W. Bush with global success in dealing with the immunity virus, which currently infects more than 1 million American women and men.
"So I can't imagine why we would want to terminate that program," added Collins.
In a social media post last week, the president said it was "very important" that "all Republicans adhere" to his recessions bill.
"Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement," Trump wrote.
The Senate's Democratic leader has signaled that attempts to ditch pre-approved federal spending may lead to a breakdown in future budget talks headed to a government shutdown.
"It is absurd to expect Democrats to play along with funding the government if Republicans are just going to renege on a bipartisan agreement," Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said last week on the floor.
However, even some Republicans remain skeptical that Trump's cuts can pass the divided Congress.
"Will it pass? I don't know. I really don't know," Sen. John Kennedy, R-L.a., told CNN on Monday. "We got a lot of Republicans who talk tough. We'll see if they're tough."
Meanwhile, ex-U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz, a former Republican congressman from Florida who briefly served this year as Trump's national security adviser, will be on Capitol Hill this week for his confirmation as UN ambassador.
The House will consider landmark cryptocurrency-related legislation, and also vote on a Pentagon funding bill for fiscal year 2026 that will include a further $831 billion in discretionary spending.