The White House’s package to formalize spending cuts from the Department of Government Efficiency faces potential obstacles ahead in the Senate as congressional Republicans confront an upcoming deadline to enact the measure into law.
Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins on Tuesday expressed uncertainty over whether the bill to codify sweeping federal government cuts could pass in the Senate by next Friday’s deadline.
“I don’t know,” the Maine Republican told reporters when asked if she thought a House-passed package to claw back $9.4 billion in spending can clear the Senate even with changes.
“I’ll be meeting with members of the Appropriations Committee to discuss changes in it. For my part, I believe it needs some significant changes,” she continued, adding that she wants to remove proposed cuts to the global program to fight AIDS, known as PEPFAR.
“I can’t imagine why we would want to terminate that program, or the maternal and child health program, which is aimed at providing malnourished pregnant women with important vitamins that they need to deliver healthy babies, and also provides food supplements for children,” Collins said.
The House narrowly passed the legislation last month that would rescind federal dollars for programs like foreign aid and public broadcasting, which has made some centrist Republicans wary.
Congress has a 45-day window to approve the cuts, meaning the Senate has until July 18, to pass the package and send it to the president’s desk for his approval. If the Senate makes changes to the bill, the House will have to adopt it again before that deadline.
Asked if she thinks it can be passed by the deadline, Collins answered, “I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Other Republicans have also suggested that the Senate will likely have to make changes to the House-passed package.
“It’s highly unlikely that we don’t amend anything that comes over here,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma. “I mean, everybody’s got to put the fingerprints on it. So I’m assuming it probably will be amended.”
One Republican warned that it would be a bad sign if a Republican-controlled Congress can’t pass the administration’s spending cuts package.
Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana told reporters that if they can’t get it across the finish line, “then we should be embarrassed, and it will embarrass the White House.”
At a recent hearing on Capitol Hill, a number of Republican senators raised questions about the types of programs the Trump administration has proposed slashing or questioned how it is planning to go about implementing them. Democrats, meanwhile, have remained broadly opposed to the package.
The head of the White House budget office defended the Trump administration’s push at the hearing. The White House first sent the spending cuts request to Congress in early June.
The bill would only need a simple majority to pass the Senate, rather than the usual 60-vote threshold to avert a filibuster.
Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota told CNN that he wants to ensure protections for “the radio stations in some of the rural areas that provide emergency services,” an issue that Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has also raised.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, for his part, said he expects the package of spending cuts to be voted out of committee and advance to the floor ahead of another vote-a-rama, or open-ended series of votes on amendments, next week.
“I think that will hit the floor next week. Obviously, it’s a fairly open process and subject to amendment. So, we’ll see where it goes,” he said.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer warned Republicans against codifying DOGE’s federal government cuts from the floor Tuesday.
“If Republicans cave to Donald Trump and gut these investments agreed to by both parties, that would be an affront – a huge affront – to the bipartisan appropriations process,” he declared.
“It’s absurd to expect Democrats to play along with funding the government if Republicans are just going to renege on a bipartisan agreement by concocting rescissions packages behind closed doors without the customary 60 votes required in the appropriations process.”
GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina predicted that he’ll end up backing the package. “We’re just looking at any of the national security impacts, any nexus there that would raise concern, but generally predisposed to voting for it,” he said.
Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas insisted that he doesn’t need any changes to the House-passed package. “I’m happy with where it is. Lots of folks back home are very disappointed in USAID. They’re disappointed money’s been wasted. They’re disappointed in NPR as well, so I’m fine the way it is.”
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report.
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