The Senate narrowly advanced President Donald Trump’s rescission package late Tuesday evening after Vice President JD Vance traveled to the U.S. Capitol to cast a tie-breaking vote.
The Senate voted 51-50 with three GOP senators, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky joining Democrats to block the president’s $9 billion clawback funding request. Senate Majority Leader John Thune is up against a July 18 deadline to steer the rescissions package through the upper chamber.
Given Senate Republicans’ 53-seat majority, Senate GOP leadership could afford to spare just three defections. The vote is the sixth time Vice President JD Vance has been dispatched to the Capitol to break a tie since the start of Trump’s second term.
Senate Republicans and the White House agreed Tuesday to exempt a proposed $400 million cut to global AIDS relief from the rescissions package in an effort to woo moderate senators, such as Collins, to support the clawback request.
However, the Maine Republican still voted against advancing the slimmed-down package.
If Congress fails to pass the proposal by Friday, the administration would be forced to spend the $9 billion. The House will have to pass the rescissions package for a second time given the upper chamber’s decision to eliminate the proposed cuts to global HIV/AIDS relief. Four House Republicans voted against the proposal when it was initially under consideration.
White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought told reporters that he supported the change and that the vast majority of the rescissions package stayed intact.
“From a $9.4 billion package to a $9 billion package, that’s something that’s very exciting for the American taxpayer,” Vought said. “Big chunks of this proposal are not falling out.”
The three defectors have frequently broken with Trump on a variety of issues, including the nomination of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the president’s tariff policy, since the start of his second term.
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