Republicans are moving forward with efforts to codify some of the cuts made by President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Congressional Republicans hope to get a final bill to the president’s desk for his signature by Friday.
The clawback measure aims to save $9 billion in government spending through a variety of cuts, including defunding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which includes PBS and NPR. It also cuts some global aid programs, and that’s where Republicans in the House and Senate are divided.
Senate Republicans voted Thursday to approve a scaled-back version of Trump’s request. After growing concerns over $400 million in proposed cuts to PEPFAR, the international program aimed at fighting AIDS, senators agreed to remove those cuts from their version.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) explained, “There was a lot of interest among our members in doing something on the PEPFAR issue. And so that’s reflected in the substitute, 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.”
The revised bill passed the Senate 51 to 48, with Republican senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Maine’s Susan Collins voting against it.
It now heads to the House, where the Democratic minority is expected to unanimously oppose the spending cuts. On Wednesday, New York Congressman Ritchie Torres called it a “redistribution of wealth from the poor to the rich.”
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