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The Republican-led Senate voted to hand over the spending cut package requested by President Donald Trump on Thursday morning, sending it to the House.
The Recissions package has cancelled a total of $9 billion in funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting funding NPR and PBS. Republicans went through a rarely used process, avoiding the 60-vote threshold and modifying bipartisan spending contracts on the party line.
The 51-48 vote followed a 13-hour vote on the amendment, with two Republicans joining Democrats against the final bill.
Senate Democrats voted unanimously to reject the package. But Tina Smith (D-MN) missed all the revised votes and final passages, and while she spent the night “from a wealth of attention” after she wasn’t feeling well, her office said.
The measure must now be returned home and handed over again before Trump can sign the law. The Senator will amend measures that the House passed 214-212 last month, removing a $400 million cut to Pepfar, a foreign aid program to combat HIV/AIDS.
Lawmakers will have 45 days to send out rescue packages after being submitted to the president’s desk on Friday.
“I think $9 billion is a very small amount. Like I said, one tenth of the 1% of the total federal government’s expenses.” “But we have to look at all aspects of the federal budget and see where we can eradicate waste, fraud and abuse in order to put this country on a more sustainable fiscal path.
Mitch McConnell (R-KY) voted against the bill during the proceedings stage, but on Thursday morning he voted to send the bill back home.
McConnell, who spent 18 years as a Senate GOP leader in January, complained that the White House has not provided details on how the cuts will be implemented.
“I want to make that clear. It’s not a problem with reducing spending. We’re talking about things we don’t know,” McConnell told reporters. “They want blank checks, what they want. And I don’t think it’s appropriate. I think they should make the point.”
Hours before the vote, Murkovsky mentioned earthquake and tsunami warnings for most of the Alaska coast to highlight the importance of public media when broadcasting emergency warnings.
“Some colleagues claim that they target “radical left-wing organizations” in these cuts, but in Alaska, these are simply organizations dedicated to the community,” Murkowski writes about X.
Other Republicans said they were unfaithful about the measure, but they put their concerns aside and voted for it anyway.
“I think you know there are some things you regret,” RN.C. Sen. Tom Tillis said Wednesday. “The second and third order effects. And when we do that, I think we have to go back and fix it.”
Tillis later told NBC News that he was “trying to take a positive view of how this withdrawal will be implemented.”
“It’s not as normative as I would like,” he said. “But if they’re wrong, it will definitely affect my attitude towards future rescue.”
R-Miss, chairman of the Armed Services Committee. Senator Roger Wicker said he supports the action “involving an appointment.”
He said it “troubled” the lawmakers being extremely cautious about administrative agencies.
“Congress has the power of a wallet. The president has the power to enforce. In this situation, there is a certain amount of money to be withdrawn,” Wicker said on the Senate floor. “But this Congress is not allowed to choose these specific cuts. It’s done by someone from the White House management and the Budget Office. And in this situation, it’s basically going to be the Senate and the Senate.
“So I raised my concern about this,” Wicker said. Wicker added that he intends to support moving forward with the package anyway to address the “budget crisis” due to “a bigger order at the moment.”
Wicker said Wednesday that he supported his speech and his decision to support rescue measures despite his fears.
“I think what I say speaks to itself,” he told NBC News.
This story originally appeared on nbcnews.com.
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