As the clock struck midnight on Thursday night, the House voted along party lines to approve massive spending cuts pushed by Trump's White House. This final step was made possible by the Senate, which in the early hours of Thursday morning also voted to accept more than $9 billion in funding sent back by the Trump administration after it had already been appropriated by Congress. But even after the 51-48 vote, most GOP senators couldn't tell you exactly which programs the legislation (known as a "rescissions package") would defund. And the fallout could extend to one of just two Republicans to vote against the bill: Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the chair of the Appropriations Committee. We know that the legislation zeroes out $1.1 billion funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting over the next two years, prompting a crisis at NPR and PBS stations around the country. We also know that the package targets a wide array of foreign aid spending worth roughly $8 billion. And we know that Senate Republicans have now made a government shutdown this fall much, much more likely. The rescissions package might have been a win for Trump and OMB Director Russell Vought, but it makes it much harder to sell Democrats on providing the votes Collins and Senate Majority Leader John Thune will need to prevent that from happening. This is a preview of Hayes Brown's latest column. Read the full column here. |
