Senators must now consider a series of other procedural hurdles and up to 10 hours of debate before a final floor vote; if that succeeds, the legislation would have to return to the House to be considered before Friday’s deadline.
The rescissions bill is a top priority for the Trump administration, which plans to use the same process to seek deeper cuts in the future if it passes. But some Senate Republicans balked at the cuts, leading Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) to strip some of them from the bill Tuesday to secure the votes to advance it.
Senate Republicans said they would remove $400 million in cuts to the HIV/AIDS relief program known as PEPFAR from the $9.4 billion package. Russell Vought, the White House budget director, said Republicans had the votes to pass the bill after lunching Tuesday with Republican senators.
