Senate Republicans admit they have no idea what’s in Trump’s spending cuts — but they’ll vote for it anyway

The Senate has approved President Donald Trump’s proposal to cut $9 billion in spending, mainly affecting public broadcasting and foreign aid programs.

The bill passed with a narrow margin of 51-48 votes, with only two Republicans voting against it alongside Democrats. According to Politico, the approved cuts will need to go back to the House for another vote before reaching Trump’s desk. The president must sign the bill by Friday, or the previously approved funding will remain in place. This marks the first time in decades that such a spending cuts package has been approved by the Senate, with Republicans using procedural tricks to bypass their own rules and ram the legislation through Congress.

Several Republican senators supported the bill while openly expressing their concerns about not knowing exactly what they were voting for. Senator Thom Tillis from North Carolina admitted, “I suspect we’re going to find out there are some things that we’re going to regret… And I suspect that when we do, we’ll have to come back and fix it.”

White House agrees to reduce some cuts to win Republican support

To secure more Republican votes, the White House agreed to remove a $400 million cut to the global AIDS program PEPFAR from the original $9.4 billion proposal. They also added language to protect food aid, maternal health, malaria, and tuberculosis programs.

Republicans faced pressure from multiple sides while considering the bill. The White House budget director, Russ Vought, had suggested he might try to bypass Congress on spending cuts, amid concerns about oversight of Trump’s cost-cutting efforts and potential legal violations in the process. Additionally, Trump warned he would not endorse Republicans who voted against the package.

Senator Susan Collins, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, voted against the bill, stating that it “has a big problem, nobody really knows what program reductions are in it.” She was joined by Senator Lisa Murkowski in opposing the cuts.

Democrats strongly opposed the measure, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying Republicans were “putting a blindfold over their own eyes and leading rural Americans off a cliff, just to make Donald Trump and his billionaire friends happy.” The passing of this bill might affect future bipartisan cooperation on government funding, as Democrats have warned they may be less willing to support future Republican funding proposals.