GOP senators push back on Trump cuts to foreign aid and public media

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Several Republican U.S. senators on Wednesday pushed back on the Trump administration’s proposed cuts to American public media stations and foreign aid, a sign the request to cancel $9.4 billion of funding could be blocked by the upper chamber.

At least five Senate Appropriations Committee Republicans voiced unease with the plan to erase the congressionally-approved funding proposed by White House budget director Russ Vought. None of the five specifically said they would vote to block it in the chamber, where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority.

“This package reflects the Trump administration’s steadfast commitment to cutting wasteful federal spending antithetical to American interests and correcting our fiscal trajectory,” Vought told the committee.

The hearing marked a rare moment of resistance from Republicans who hold both chambers of Congress to Trump’s sweeping efforts to exert greater control over federal spending – which the U.S. Constitution gives Congress power over.

The five who expressed concerns included Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and the Senate’s former top Republican, Mitch McConnell, who have all opposed some Trump priorities before.

Maine’s Collins, who is the appropriations committee chair, repeatedly questioned the administration’s goals in cutting foreign aid as she held up food packets and vitamins funded by these programs, which were approved earlier this year by President Donald Trump in a stopgap funding package.

McConnell of Kentucky said the administration’s plan to root out wasteful spending has been “unnecessarily chaotic” and argued that instead of government efficiency, it “created vacuums for adversaries like China” to fill soft-power gaps.

Vought argued the foreign aid cuts, like some funding for LGBTQ advocacy in Uganda, are warranted because they are “not in line with American interests,” despite the country having a draconian anti-homosexuality law that includes the death penalty for certain same-sex acts.

The House of Representatives passed this funding cut package earlier this month, however, the funding changes also need to be approved by the Senate within the next several weeks to take effect.

“I want to see fundamental changes in the package, and I am already working on a substitute,” Collins told reporters after the hearing.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said he will vote for the funding cut package despite long-standing support of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program because it is “not beyond scrutiny.”

A few Republicans also questioned the funding cut request that targets money for PBS public television and NPR radio stations nationwide, which receive a portion of their funding from more than $1 billion that Congress appropriates through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Senator Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican, defended his state’s Native American radio stations that he said would not “exist” without this funding, a concern shared by Nebraska Republican Senator Deb Fischer who noted parts of her state have poor cellular service.

Vought said he would work with the committee on their concerns and noted that the public media funding in question is for two years in the future to allow for planning.

But Murkowski, from Alaska, pushed back on the ability for rural radio stations to plan without this funding, especially for emergency communication responsibilities. “There is no way to recalibrate, there is no safety valve for them,” Murkowski said.

“If President Trump and Director Vought get their way and Republicans pass this package, they will not only gut the heart of compromise that this committee is built around but zero out long-standing bipartisan investments,” said Senator Patty Murray, the top committee Democrat.

(Reporting by Bo Erickson; Editing by Scott Malone and Sonali Paul)