Vought speaks outside the White House in May. Photo: Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images
The White House has agreed to pull planned cuts to the PEPFAR global HIV/AIDS program out of the rescissions package, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and OMB Director Russ Vought said Tuesday afternoon.
Why it matters: The decision addresses a key concern of Senate Republican holdouts and could improve prospects for advancing the remaining package of cuts to foreign aid and public broadcasting.
What they're saying: After a lunch meeting with Republican senators, Vought said the rescissions package would contain $9 billion of cuts, down from $9.4 billion.
- "There is a substitute amendment that does not include the PEPFAR rescission," said Vought. "I think [that] has a good chance of passing."
- "There was a lot of interest from our members on doing something on PEPFAR," said Thune. "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 dollar rescissions package."
Yes, but: Another $500 million in global health funding will still be clawed back if the package clears Congress by Friday.
- Vought said that, he "couldn't be more clear" that the remaining funding covers family planning programs abroad.
- Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, a key holdout, had said earlier in the week that she hadn't received enough information on what accounts would be affected by the cuts.
Stef Kight contributed to this story.
