Republicans Advances Recission Bill—With Vice President Vance Breaking Tie Vote

Just as important as the Big, Beautiful Bill, passing the rescissions bill is essential with the national debt at unsustainable levels.

Backstabbing Republicans, Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Susan Collins (Maine) and Mitch McConnell (Ky.), once again betray the party.

The Hill: Senate Republicans on Tuesday narrowly cleared a key procedural hurdle on the path to clawing back billions of dollars in funding previously authorized by Congress for foreign aid and public broadcasting. Vice President Vance had to break the 50-50 tie vote after three Republicans — Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Susan Collins (Maine) and Mitch McConnell (Ky.) — voted against a motion to discharge the rescissions package out of the Senate Appropriations Committee, allowing the full upper chamber to advance to consideration of the package (The Hill).

Electric buses for Haiti, vegan food for Zambia—why on Earth was our government ever funding these things?

We will pass the rescissions package to eliminate this wasteful spending and end this madness. pic.twitter.com/MS9rbgrPAu

— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) July 14, 2025

Tuesday’s vote was a first step toward passing the bill. The Senate must vote to start debate on the bill, followed by hours of debate and votes on amendments. Lawmakers are under pressure because Congress must approve the cuts by Friday at midnight under the law they are using to dodge a Democratic filibuster…. The catch: Congress must send the bill to Trump’s desk by Friday or the administration will be forced to release the funds. Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, meaning they can lose up to three Republican votes and pass the bill. The House — which approved the package last month — will need to vote on it again if the Senate changes it (Washington Post).

Congress struggles to cut just 0.13% of the budget, including funding for NPR, PBS, and foreign aid.

 If this tiny rescission package is a “tough sell,” how will they tackle bigger deficits? pic.twitter.com/80TyUoXO6N

— Stephen Moore (@StephenMoore) July 11, 2025

Vance casts tie-breaking votes to move forward $9.4B rescissions package — which would defund PBS and NPR — in Senate

By Victor Nava, NY Post, July 15, 2025:

Vice President JD Vance cast two tie-breaking votes in the Senate Tuesday to move forward a $9.4 billion rescissions package — which would rip federal funding from PBS and NPR — in the upper chamber.

The Senate deadlocked, 50-50, on two procedural votes to start debate on the multibillion-dollar spending clawback package before Vance’s votes advanced the measure requested by the White House.

Three Republicans — Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) — joined all Democrats in opposition to the bill.

The package, approved by the House of Representatives last month, axes 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 finances National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

A proposed $400 million cut to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program is expected to be scrapped via an amendment before the bill comes up for a final vote.

“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.
Senator Susan Collins walking in a Capitol building hallway. 4
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) argued that senators haven’t been told by the White House what specific programs will be axed. AP

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.”
Senate vote on H.R. 4, the Rescissions Act of 2025: Yea 50, Nay 50.