OAN Staff Blake Wolf
11:25 AM – Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Senate Republicans are pushing to vote on President Donald Trump’s request to slash $9.4 billion in foreign aid programs and left-leaning public broadcasting.

The rescissions package, previously requested by the White House in June, could slash nearly $10 billion in funds previously approved by Congress.

However, the process of approving the cuts are under a strict deadline, as Congress must approve of the clawback (the recovery of money already disbursed) by Friday at midnight in order to avoid a Democrat filibuster.

Despite the strict deadline, some Senate Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), have suggested that the current version of the bill will not pass without amendments.

“We’re hearing people out, and we are obviously weighing what an amendment process on the floor might look like,” Thune stated on Monday.

The rescissions package, if passed, as the White House is requesting, seeks to permanently enact spending cuts identified by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The majority of the identified spending cuts are focused on foreign aid, as well as left-wing public broadcasting — such as NPR and PBS. According to the AllSides media bias meter, both federally-funded outlets lean left politically.

GOP Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), have all expressed concerns over the proposed cuts, specifically pointing toward the Bush-era President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a government initiative meant to support global HIV/AIDS programs.

Thune can only lose three GOP votes or the package fails, as all Democrats are expected to vote against its passage.

“I’m fine with it as is, but I think we have colleagues who would like to see some perhaps modest changes made, so we’re trying to find out if there’s a path forward that gets us 51 and stays consistent,” Thune stated.

Last Thursday, President Trump issued a statement urging Republicans to avoid amending the bill, writing: “It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions Bill and, in particular, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN & MSDNC put together. Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement.”

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