White House budget chief Russell Vought will testify before senators Wednesday as they consider a special request by the Trump administration to lock in upwards of $9 billion in cuts to foreign aid and public broadcasting funds.
Vought will appear before the Senate Appropriations Committee as lawmakers face a ticking clock to act on the request before August.
The Trump administration is calling on the GOP-led Congress to approve $8.3 billion in cuts to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and foreign aid, and more than $1 billion in cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides some funding to NPR and PBS.
The request, sent by the White House earlier this month, kick-starts a process that would allow Republicans to claw back funds for a list of programs on the administration’s chopping block without any Democratic support in either chamber.
Republicans see the move as a key step in codifying cuts pursued by Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, previously headed up by tech billionaire Elon Musk. However, some have already expressed concerns about the scope of the proposed cuts and how they would impact global health programs like the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief — including Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine).
Other Republicans have also taken issue with proposed cuts to public broadcasting funds, raising concerns about how local stations would fare.
Pressed on what she wanted to hear from Vought during Wednesday’s hearing reviewing the package of proposed cuts, Collins told reporters Tuesday, “Justification for it.”
Democrats aren’t expected to support the package, however; the party has come out in staunch opposition to the Trump administration’s ongoing operation to reshape the federal government that the party has denounced as illegal.
In prepared remarks for the Wednesday hearing, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) railed against the package, which she argued would “not only gut the heart of compromise this committee is built around, but zero out longstanding bipartisan investments.”
“They will rip away funding that supports over 1,500 local public TV and radio stations,” her remarks read. “Trump also wants Congress to surrender America’s leadership on the world stage, with drastic cuts to longstanding, bipartisan foreign policy investments this Committee has made.”
Some Republicans are expecting tweaks to the package, which has already passed the House, to secure passage in the upper chamber.
However, some Republicans have suggested there could be some time before changes are made, particularly as the conference is working to jam through a separate, major tax and spending cuts package through Congress by the end of the week.
It’s been decades since Congress has approved such a request to yank back funds previously approved by lawmakers. Trump tried to use the same process to rescind funds in his first term but was unsuccessful, despite Republicans controlling the House, Senate and White House at the time.
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