On Tuesday, Senate Republicans moved one step nearer to reducing billions in congressionally appropriated funding Pricey Chief Donald Trump dislikes, after Vice President JD Vance broke a tie to advance a recissions package deal that defunds NPR and PBS, and cuts billions in overseas support.
A recissions package deal shouldn’t be topic to the filibuster, so Senate Republicans solely want a easy majority for it to go. Three Republicans—Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky—voted towards shifting the package deal to debate, requiring Vance to interrupt the tie.
Passing this recissions package deal—which might make everlasting a few of the cuts former co-President Elon Musk tried to make via his incompetent and damaging Division of Authorities Effectivity—is problematic for a number of causes.
Firstly, it could be damaging for rural Individuals who each depend on publicly funded PBS and NPR stations for climate warnings and extra, and likewise obtain billions in overseas support cash rising crops which are distributed to poor nations throughout the globe.
It might even be damaging for Congress’ skill to go future authorities funding payments down the highway. It exhibits the Democratic senators—who voted for the federal government spending invoice—that any offers they make in future authorities funding negotiations are simply smoke and mirrors if Republicans will flip round and strip that funding away via the recissions course of.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) referred to as the recissions package deal a “dirty trick” by Republicans.
Sen. Chris Murphy calls the package deal a “dirty trick.”
“What they’re doing is cutting out of the budget all the things that DOGE targeted. With this recissions bill they are going after all the foreign aid funding that DOGE hates, and they’re going after PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. They’re literally going to take Sesame Street off the air,” Murphy stated in a video posted on X. “Why would Democrats ever again negotiate a bipartisan budget with Republicans if Republicans two months later can just pass a partisan bill that keeps the spending that Republicans like and cuts the spending that Democrats supported in the bipartisan process? So this isn’t just really bad policy, this is just another way that Republicans are corroding the rule of law, the institutional norms that have held together our democracy for decades.”
And Schumer warned that that is simply the beginning for Republicans, who may come after different essential funding in future recissions packages.
“Let me be clear, this is not just about foreign assistance, important as that is. This is the playbook that Republicans will use across the board,” Schumer stated. “They will do it with healthcare. They will do it with the Department of Education. They will do it with our schools, our veterans, our housing. They will do it to research dollars. I’ve heard of more great research projects that could have saved lives now on hold, that can never be brought back again, because of the greed of the billionaires and the obeisance of Republicans to go along.”
In the meantime, even Senate Republicans who voted to advance the recissions package deal to debate say it is problematic, saying that the Trump administration has not given sufficient details about the precise applications that may be reduce.
However since defying Pricey Chief is out of the query for the cultists within the GOP, they’re dashing this newest crap sandwich laws towards passage. God helps us all.
