Senate Republicans are scrambling to iron out changes to President Donald Trump’s $9.4 billion request for spending clawbacks ahead of a key vote on Tuesday.
Majority Leader John Thune needs 51 votes to start debate on the “rescissions” package, and as of Monday evening, it was not clear he had them. He’s also staring down a looming deadline: Congress has until Friday night to clear the request Trump sent last month, or the president will be forced to spend the money as Congress intended. An added wrinkle is that if the Senate makes changes it will have to be passed again by the House.
Even if Thune can gather the necessary support to start debate on the package of cuts to public broadcasting and foreign aid, it’s not clear he’ll get the votes to pass it later this week. Appropriations Chair Susan Collins huddled with several GOP senators in her committee office on Monday as some Republicans seek changes to the White House request or clarifications on what exact spending the administration is seeking to rescind.
Collins told a small group of reporters after the meeting that there are “still many open questions … that we still do not have the answers to.” Collins said the questions went beyond her previously stated concerns about PEPFAR, the global AIDS program, to include broader concerns about cutbacks in overseas public health.
“We still are lacking the level of detail that is needed to make the right decisions,” Collins said. “It’s extremely unusual for any senator to not be able to get that kind of detailed information.”
The meeting in Collins’ office included some GOP senators, including Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt, who support the administration’s effort to claw back funding and are trying to help their colleagues get answers from the administration.
“We’re working through questions and concerns right now, which is why we’re trying to handle all this on the front end, but I’m very hopeful and confident we’ll address those,” said Schmitt, who is spearheading the bill in the Senate, as he left the meeting.
The meeting was also attended by several Republicans who have not yet said if they will support the rescissions package and are considered votes to watch, including Sens. Jerry Moran of Kansas, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Todd Young of Indiana and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
Moran, who comes from a major agricultural state, said in a brief interview after the meeting that his key concern is global food aid. He added that he is still waiting for clarity about “what are they actually rescinding” as well as taking part in ongoing conversations about “are there things that we would not want to rescind?”
Whether and to what extent the Senate ends up tweaking the package likely hinges on the responses from the administration. Republican senators will hear from White House Budget Director Russ Vought during a closed-door lunch Tuesday about which specific accounts the administration would cut if Congress approves its request.
For weeks, Republicans on both sides of the Capitol have asked the White House for those specifics, and many say they have not yet gotten satisfactory responses.
“We’ve been working with a number of our colleagues over the weekend trying to address concerns they have and again see what a path forward on amendments looks like,” Thune said Monday evening as he left the Capitol.
Asked if he thought he had the votes to start the process on the floor, he added: “To be determined. We’re still having those conversations.”
Republicans believe Collins will vote to push the rescissions package out of committee, the first step in the floor process. But they are less certain, based on where talks currently stand, whether she would agree to start debate. Asked about that second step on Monday, Collins noted Vought is coming back to the Capitol on Tuesday so “this will be a chance to try to pin him down and get the detailed information that we need.”
Other Republicans in the meeting with Collins on Monday night are expected to support the administration’s effort to claw back the funding but have left the door open to supporting amendments or backing their GOP colleagues’ requests for more information.
“I just think it’s curious,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told reporters Monday night about the lack of specificity from the White House.
“I’ve already said I’m a lean yes,” Tillis added. “But I think there’s some very important process questions that people are asking that could make me rethink that, particularly just answering the questions of the members.”
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), who is hosting the lunch with Vought, said “hopefully we can get a lot of questions answered” there.
When asked if she’ll be offering any amendments or needs to see specific changes, she added: “No, but I’m listening.”
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