Vice President JD Vance made two tie-breaking votes in the Senate on Tuesday to advance a $9.4 billion rescissions plan that will eliminate government funding for PBS and NPR.
The Senate tied 50-50 on two procedural votes to begin discussion of the multibillion-dollar expenditure clawback plan until Vance’s votes advanced the White House-requested proposal.
Three Republicans, Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Susan Collins (R-Maine), joined the Democrats in opposing the plan.
The package, passed by the House of Representatives last month, eliminates approximately $8.3 billion previously allocated to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and $1.1 billion to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which partially funds National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
A projected $400 million decrease to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program is anticipated to be removed through an amendment before the measure is voted on.
“There was a lot of interest from our members on doing something on PEPFAR,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told reporters after a meeting with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought. “That’s reflected in the substitute.”
“We hope that if we can get this across the finish line in the Senate, that the House will accept that one small modification that ends up making the package about a $9 billion rescissions package,” Thune added.
Collins defended her “no” vote by arguing that OMB didn’t provide senators with details about what programs would be scrapped as a result of the clawback.
“The rescissions package has a big problem — nobody really knows what program reductions are in it,” she said in a statement. “That isn’t because we haven’t had time to review the bill. Instead, the problem is that OMB has never provided the details that would normally be part of this process.”
Collins cited $2.5 billion in proposed cuts to the “Development Assistance account,” which she said “covers everything from basic education, to water and sanitation, to food security — but we don’t know how those programs will be affected.”
The Maine Republican also described the cuts to public broadcasters as “excessive” and expressed concern that PBS viewers would lose access to “popular programs like ‘Antiques Road Show’ and ‘Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.’”
“I share the frustration with the biased reporting by NPR, and I would support defunding it,” Collins continued. “Nevertheless, local TV and radio stations continue to provide important coverage.”