Senate Republicans Race Against the Clock on Rescissions

Republicans are quickly approaching a July 18 deadline to pass a recission package that would codify $9.4 billion of the Department of Government Efficiency’s cuts into law. But at the moment, even with a rare 50-vote threshold for passage in the Senate, Republicans don’t seem to have the votes.

A handful of GOP senators have expressed major concerns about President Donald Trump’s rescission package — ranging from specific cuts to the legislation’s potential impact on the appropriations process. And if Senate Republicans have to amend the House-passed bill, that could jeopardize the entire measure at this point.

“I have some reservations about it. So we’ll just see,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a member of Senate Republican leadership, told reporters Tuesday.

“We’re not going to deal with it until next week,” Capito added, saying she’d reserve judgement until then.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune acknowledged on Tuesday that the package likely won’t come to the Senate floor until next week. He said he hadn’t done a formal whip count on the bill just yet, and that there were still elements of the legislation being worked out.

Because of the special rules allowing Republicans to bypass the filibuster, the rescission bill is subject to a vote-a-rama, meaning Democrats will almost certainly offer a flurry of amendments aimed at drawing contrasts between the two parties, altering the bill and, at the very least, delaying passage. But Republicans are likely to seek changes, too.

“Obviously it’s a fairly open process and subject to amendment, so we’ll see where it goes,” Thune said.

The rescission bill has become a point of contention not for how much it cuts — $9.4 billion is hardly an alarming figure for either party — but for what it cuts.

A portion of the package targets public broadcasting, which is one of the main sources of news for many rural parts of the country. And another chunk of the legislation targets the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, an HIV–AIDS relief program started under President George W. Bush that has drastically reduced the spread of HIV, especially in Africa.

Sens. Mitch McConnell and Chuck Grassley were both senators in 2003 and voted to create PEPFAR. Sens. Roger Wicker, Marsha Blackburn, John Boozman and Capito also voted for the program as members of the House. And there are a number of Republicans who have expressed support for it.

Senate Republicans can only afford to lose three votes on the bill — and that’s with Vice President JD Vance breaking a tie — before it falls apart altogether. No Democrats are expected to support the legislation.

That means at least some of these GOP senators would need to vote to enshrine these cuts to PEPFAR and other foreign aid programs if the bill is going to become law. But as the legislation stands now, plenty of Republican senators are leaving the door open to voting against, or amending, the bill.

Sen. Thom Tillis, who could be a key vote for the package now that he’s retiring, told reporters Tuesday he’s concerned specifically about the PEPFAR cuts in the rescission package.

“We’re looking at it. For the most part, I’m fine with the majority of it. We’re just looking at any of the national security impacts,” Tillis said of the PEPFAR cuts.

Sen. Susan Collins, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told reporters Wednesday that she doesn’t support “the rescission of PEPFAR funds,” noting the program’s “accomplishments” in saving lives and preventing infants from being born with HIV.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a critical swing vote in the Senate, has also expressed that she wants changes to the rescission package before passage. She is concerned with both cuts to foreign aid and public broadcasting, which has a large presence in Alaska. And Sen. Mike Rounds also said he doesn’t support the cuts in their current form.

“We’ve been negotiating … We think we’re going to be successful in getting this issue resolved,” Rounds said. He added that the issue would be resolved through an amendment or “other means.”

With Thune intent on not putting the bill on the floor until next week, Republicans will be cutting it close. The package must be signed into law by July 18 — 45 days after the White House submitted the rescission bill — otherwise the money is legally obligated to be spent.

Even amending the legislation could threaten the bill. The measure would have to pass the Senate and then survive another vote in the House, where the package barely passed with four Republicans voting ‘no’ after several flipped. If the Senate didn’t get the bill done before next Thursday, it might be difficult for the House to get another vote done in time.

The condensed timeline isn’t making passage any easier.

The bill still needs to be discharged from the Senate Appropriations Committee, where Collins has held it up, and a senator would have to make a motion on the Senate floor to discharge the package from the committee. Even if all of that goes according to plan, Democrats could severely hamper the legislation with amendments during a vote-a-rama.

After House Republicans swallowed Senate changes on the massive reconciliation bill, Senate Republicans feel empowered that the situation could repeat with the rescission package. But they’re making the rounds to be sure.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, who served as a sort of liaison between the Senate and House during recent reconciliation negotiations, said he hadn’t talked with his former House colleagues about rescissions yet. But he said he would “start that discussion probably once I know the direction we’re going.”

“Obviously we’re going to have to talk immediately with probably the Freedom Caucus guys, kind of find out where they’re at,” Mullin said.

At least one senator is already cautioning that he doesn’t want a final product to be an amalgamation of backroom deals for the sake of final passage.

“I want to see people being able to offer their ideas and let’s vote ‘yea’ or ‘nay’ in front of God and country,” Sen. John Kennedy said. “I don’t want to see a wraparound amendment at the end that reflects a lot of side deals.”

Kennedy added that he was “tired of seeing people getting special deals to vote ‘yes.’”

“I think it’s immoral and the wrong way to legislate,” Kennedy said. “And unfortunately we had some of that in the reconciliation bill.”

The reconciliation bill is still largely hanging over the Senate. Lawmakers are just getting over the marathon sessions, with the prospect of yet another all-night vote-a-rama hanging over them.

And right after rescissions, lawmakers are set to dive in on appropriations, with government funding currently set to expire on Sept. 30.

That conversation could also be greatly affected by what happens with the rescission bill.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer suggested negotiations on government funding, which need to be bipartisan to clear the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, could be soured with the rescission package.

“It is 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 that can pass with only their votes, not the customary 60 votes required in the appropriation process,” Schumer said.