By Ken Thomas and Lindsay Wise

WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans reached an agreement Tuesday with the White House on a slimmed-down $9 billion package of spending cuts that preserves funding for AIDS treatments in Africa, a key concern for a group of GOP lawmakers.

The revised proposal maintains $400 million for the Pepfar HIV/AIDS relief program that had been targeted by the White House for cuts. Russ Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, discussed the proposal during a closed-door luncheon with GOP senators. He said after the meeting he was confident the measure -- meant to write into law cuts identified by President Trump's Department of Government Efficiency push -- could garner at least 50 votes.

"I think everyone involved wants a successful result and the Senate has to, you know, figure out where their votes are," Vought said. "From a $9.4 billion package to a $9 billion package, that's something that's very exciting for the American taxpayer. Big chunks of this proposal are not falling out."

Congress has until Friday to pass the rescissions package or it expires. The Republican-led House passed it last month, 214-212. In the Senate, where the GOP holds a narrow 53-47 majority, party leaders can afford to lose no more than three Republican "no" votes, if all Democrats are opposed. Vice President JD Vance would break any ties.

The Senate was expected to open the process with procedural votes later Tuesday. If those votes succeed, lawmakers likely would hold a series of votes on amendments Wednesday ahead of the Friday deadline. Any changes to the proposal by the Senate would need to be approved by the House in order to reach the president's desk for his signature.

"We hope that if we can get this across the finish line in the Senate that the House would accept that one small modification that ends up making the package still about a $9 billion rescissions package -- a little less than what was sent over from the House, but nonetheless, a significant down payment on getting rid of waste, fraud, abuse in our government," said Senate Republican Leader John Thune (R., S.D.).

Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine), who chairs the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, had been an outspoken opponent of cutting Pepfar, which was created by former President George W. Bush. She credits Pepfar with saving 26 million lives and preventing millions of infants from being born with HIV.

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R., Mo.), a key White House ally, said the revised proposal would address the concerns that some Republicans had raised on the AIDS funding. "That's part of the process, right? That's why we're working with people, so I feel confident that we'll move forward," Schmitt said.

Trump last week threatened not to endorse any Republican senators who opposed the White House's package of DOGE cuts. The warning came after some senators had said they were seeking changes to preserve federal funding for public broadcasting and Pepfar.

The initial package rescinded $8.3 billion that Congress had previously allocated for foreign-aid programs, including the $400 million for Pepfar. The measure also would cancel all of the $1.1 billion in funding Congress had allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for fiscal years 2026 and 2027.

Trump's ire has been heavily focused on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the umbrella organization that oversees government funding for the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio. Republicans have long criticized the two organizations for having a liberal bias and questioned funding them with taxpayer money, but some senators had expressed concerns about the cuts to public broadcasting, particularly the impact on rural communities

Trump is trying to claw back the $535 million of funding that Congress approved for the CBP to receive in each of the next two fiscal years. Last week, Trump called the CPB a "monstrosity" in his social-media post and warned Republican senators to not oppose the cuts.

Losing government funding would be a big blow to many local PBS and NPR stations, particularly in small markets and rural areas. Those stations often get 30% or more of their funding from CPB.

The $9 billion in cuts represent only about one-tenth of 1% of the roughly $7 trillion federal budget and a narrow slice of the $150 billion goal of savings outlined by Trump's Department of Government Efficiency effort. The bulk of the federal government's spending is on Social Security, Medicare and related health programs, as well as interest on the debt, all of which are off the table.

Democrats expressed worry that the rescissions process would blow up any future attempts to reach a bipartisan agreement on the budget and surrender congressional powers to the executive branch.

"It really troubles me because we're watching the Republican majority give up the authority of Congress to appropriate funds," said Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.).

Write to Ken Thomas at ken.thomas@wsj.com and Lindsay Wise at lindsay.wise@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 15, 2025 15:30 ET (19:30 GMT)

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