The Senate approved President Trump’s rescission package early Thursday, handing the administration a huge policy and fiscal win. At 2:30 a.m., the Senate voted to cut $9 billion in funding for foreign aid and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The final vote was 51-48 with Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voting against the bill, because, of course, they did, and Minnesota Democrat Tina Smith missing the vote because she was hospitalized for undisclosed reasons. Senator Mitch McConnell, true to form, switched his vote to support the bill at the last minute after wringing all the attention he could out of a threat to vote against the spending cuts. The House is scheduled to vote on the package by Friday.
The lion’s share of the cuts, about $8 billion, comes from foreign aid spending; however, in the end, $400 million earmarked for President George W. Bush’s signature President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program was restored. Trump achieved a long-time conservative goal of defunding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting ($1.1 billion). However, millions of dollars were transferred to the Department of the Interior to subsidize tribal radio stations.
This marks the first time the rescission process has been used to cut spending since 1999. President Trump attempted to cut $15 billion in 2018, but the bill failed to clear the Senate. Since the process was introduced in the Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, presidents have submitted 1,178 rescission requests totaling $76 billion; 461 of those requests, comprising $25 billion, survived contact with Congress.
Despite the signal victory chalked up by the administration, a lot of unresolved conflict remains. This bill was passed primarily due to President Trump’s personal lobbying and the widespread support of grassroots conservative voters. To get to a win, the White House provided Congress with as little detail as possible.
“Let’s not consider this a precedent,” said Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), who said he was supporting the bill “with reservation.”
Wicker added, from the chamber floor, “if you come back to us again, Mr. Director of the OMB — if you come back to us again from the executive branch — give us the specific amounts and the specific programs that will be cut.”
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), hours before voting for the package, said, “I suspect we’re going to find out there are some things that we’re going to regret. … And I suspect that when we do we’ll have to come back and fix it.”
The administration’s desire to slash spending will inevitably run head-on into the congressional impulse to buy votes. Even as they voted to cut spending this time, several GOP senators are trying to force the White House to release $7 billion appropriated for highly questionable programs to the bloated educational system.
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