Senate 'vote-a-rama' on rescissions bill begins

Rachel Oswald, CQ-Roll Call on Jul 16, 2025

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WASHINGTON — Senators began voting Wednesday on amendments to a large foreign aid and public broadcasting rescissions package even as some Republicans acknowledged their discomfort with how the Trump administration might implement the funding cancellations.

The $9.4 billion rescissions package is expected to be modified with a GOP-backed substitute amendment that would strip out a $400 million cutback to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a popular anti-HIV program, and bar funding clawbacks for food assistance and some country-specific grants.

The “vote-a-rama” kicked off Wednesday with the defeat, 49-50, of an amendment by Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., to delete a rescission of $496 million from the international disaster assistance account.

But it is possible that some Democratic amendments to water down the bill further could make it through. The underlying legislation would cancel $8.3 billion in foreign assistance and $1.1 billion in taxpayer support to NPR and PBS.

The package had just enough support to advance to the floor on Tuesday night, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote on a pair of procedural motions. Three Republican defectors joined all Democrats to oppose motions to queue up the bill: Moderates Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, plus Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the former majority leader who has been a major proponent of foreign aid.

At least one more Republican, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, on Wednesday said he is open to further amendments that “make the bill better.”

Collins, who chairs the Appropriations Committee, denounced the White House Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday for not providing details on what specific foreign aid programs would see their funding taken away, citing a proposed $2.5 billion rescission in spending on development assistance, a very broad account that funds a range of activities such as food assistance, basic education as well as water and sanitation.

Democratic leaders also castigated the administration for a lack of detail on how cuts would be carried out.

“Republicans are rushing forward without a clue how these unhinged cuts will be implemented,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York said on the floor. “Republicans don’t even know how OMB and DOGE are going to rearrange these cuts and yet they’re voting for it. Republicans are putting a blindfold over their own eyes.”

On Wednesday, Majority Leader John Thune acknowledged Collins’ concerns but emphasized the need to move ahead.

“I think that the administration needs to be more specific,” the South Dakota Republican told reporters. “More specificity would be a good thing, and certainly more detail in terms of what exactly it is that they intend to tie the result of all this. But I think, for the most part, most of our members believe that there was enough detail there to make a good decision about whether or not we want to move forward on the package, and we’ll see where the amendment process goes.”

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(CQ-Roll Call's David Lerman contributed to this report.)

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