Democrats warn Trump's DOGE cuts threaten government funding talks
Source: The Hill
07/12/25 6:00 AM ET
Senate Democrats are warning the Trump administration’s effort to claw back funds for foreign aid and public broadcasting programs threatens bipartisan negotiations to fund the government ahead of a September shutdown deadline. Republicans are ramping up efforts to try to pass a package of more than $9 billion in funding cuts requested by President Trump last month. But the push faces staunch opposition from Democrats, who say the efforts by the executive branch to undercut previous funding decisions made on a bipartisan basis by Congress could further erode trust between the two sides in current talks.
“How are we supposed to negotiate a bipartisan deal if Republicans will turn around and put it through the shredder in a partisan vote,” Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said from the floor Thursday. “This entire package next week should be rejected outright.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) also called it “absurd” for Republicans to expect Democrats to “play along with funding the government” if their GOP colleagues “renege on a bipartisan agreement by concocting rescissions packages behind closed doors that can pass with only their votes, not the customary 60 votes required in the appropriation process.”
Democrats are referring to a package of funding cuts Senate Republicans hope to take up in the coming days that calls for $8.3 billion in cuts to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and foreign aid, and more than $1 billion in cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which provides some funding to NPR and PBS. Congress has until July 18 to pass the legislation under the special rescissions process initiated by the White House last month that allows the Senate to approve the funding cuts with a simple majority vote, bypassing likely Democratic opposition.
Most funding bills, including the measure that allocated the foreign aid and public broadcasting funding in March, need to overcome a 60-vote threshold. Trump officials have signaled more rescissions packages could be on the way if Republicans are able to push the cuts through Congress. But not even all Republicans are thrilled with the idea, with some worrying about how it will affect current funding negotiations.
Read more: https://thehill.com/business/budget/5397696-democrats-trump-doge-cuts-government-funding/