Republicans moved one step closer to clawing back billions in foreign aid on Tuesday after Vice President JD Vance cast his latest tiebreaking vote to bring the package of DOGE-inspired cuts to the Senate floor.
In a 51-50 vote, the Senate discharged the funding clawback, known as a rescissions request, out of the Appropriations Committee despite the reservations of centrists who fear the cuts will undermine American influence and global public health. Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky were the three Republican “no” votes, requiring Vance to revisit the chamber he once served in.
This was Vance’s sixth tiebreaker in the Senate, following his deciding vote on July 1 to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Republicans are expected to open debate on the legislation, which also includes $1.1 billion in public broadcasting cuts, in a second vote planned for Tuesday evening. A final vote is expected later this week, but hurdles still remain.
The White House has pressured the GOP-led Congress to pass the Department of Government Efficiency, with President Donald Trump threatening political consequences for any Republican who votes “no.”
Congress has a tight timeline to send the cuts, totaling roughly $9 billion, back to the House, which narrowly approved the legislation in June. The bill targets funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development, which became slightly smaller after Republicans agreed to exempt $400 million in funding for PEPFAR, a Bush-era AIDS prevention program, in a major concession to centrists wavering on the White House request.
If Congress does not approve the request by Friday, the clawback statute says the White House must spend the funds before the end of fiscal 2025, which ends on Sept. 30.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said the rescission is in a quest to “do something meaningful when it comes to reducing the size and scope of the federal government, particularly in areas of our government where we know there is waste, fraud, and abuse.”
“There has been a renewed commitment to reducing spending,” Thune added.
Collins, who leads the Appropriations Committee, said earlier in the day she was “grateful” that PEPFAR would be removed but signaled she still has concerns with other “problematic” parts of the bill.
Other Republicans, including McConnell, have expressed broader complaints that the rescission request could undermine America’s “soft power” on the world stage to deter adversaries.
Democrats, none of whom voted in favor of advancing the rescission bill, condemned the proposed cuts as kneecapping life-saving foreign aid and vital funding for domestic news programs on NPR and PBS. To win over rural-state Republicans concerned about slashing broadcast funds for tribal communities, the administration promised to redirect a separate pool of money through the Interior Department to tribal broadcasting.
“DOGE comes along with its chainsaw approaches. They just cut, cut, cut,” Senate Minority Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said. “They have no idea what the consequences will be, and they don’t give a hoot.”
SENATE REPUBLICANS TO SPARE GLOBAL AIDS PROGRAM FROM DOGE CUTS
Schumer is trying to convince enough Republicans to buck final passage by threatening to retaliate with a de facto shutdown and withholding required Democratic votes later this year to fund the government.
Republicans so far see it as a bluff to appease a frustrated base and are placing early bets that the latest shutdown rhetoric is a repeat of a claim made earlier this year that Schumer ultimately reversed.