Republicans have agreed to remove the international aids program PEPFAR from the rescission package lowering the amount of savings in the bill to NINE-billion. News came Tuesday afternoon that GOP senators , facing resistance from within their own ranks, had agreed to remove PEPFAR from the list of programs targeted in the bill. Appropriations chair Susan Collins of Maine was the chief proponent of omitting PEPFAR from the bill, which is designed to reduce wasteful spending previously approved by Congress. PEPFAR has been credited with saving millions of lives  since it was created under President George W. Bush.