WASHINGTON, DC -- During a contentious hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee, White House budget chief Russell T. Vought was challenged on a bipartisan basis regarding the Trump Administration’s efforts to cancel billions of dollars in spending for humanitarian aid, public health, National Public Radio (NPR), and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS).

U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) a leading Democratic member of the Appropriations Committee, and other senators questioned Mr. Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), about a host of issues.  Reed took Vought to task for failing to produce any cost-benefit analysis and instead attempting to impose ideological preferences on the American people in a harmful and unproductive manner.

The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives has already voted to claw back $9.4 billion as requested by the Trump Administration. Now, the U.S. Senate is considering the proposed package ahead of a July 18 deadline for legislative action, which only requires a simple majority vote in the U.S. Senate, where Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority.

During the hearing, senators from both parties raised questions about several types of public interest programs that the Trump Administration has proposed to slash and the consequences of clawing back this funding.

Senator Reed came away from the hearing cautiously optimistic that enough Republicans could join Democrats in voting against the reckless rescission package, but the outcome of the vote is far from a foregone conclusion and Republicans have shown a propensity this Congress to vote the way Trump wants.

“I sensed real skepticism from many of my colleagues during the hearing, both Democrats and Republicans.  They raised valid concerns about the harms this rescission package would do and Mr. Vought failed to provide a compelling rationale for ending lifesaving nutrition assistance and public broadcasting support,” said Senator Reed, who took Mr. Vought to task for trying to run a “backroom empire.”

Reed noted that former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) sounded alarmed by such a reckless claw back and noted the importance of the U.S. maintaining “soft power” overseas:  “Reforming the way we invest in peace and stability is certainly worthwhile,” McConnell told Vought before going on to note: “But the Administration’s attempt to root it out has been unnecessarily chaotic. In critical corners of the globe, instead of creating efficiencies, you’ve created vacuums for adversaries like China to fill.”

During the hearing, the Chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee Susan Collins (R-ME) told Mr. Vought:  “I am puzzled why you would be cutting funds that the president signed in March as part of the continuing resolution,” referring to the appropriations funding Trump signed to keep the federal government operating through the end of the fiscal year in September.

Regarding the $1 billion in cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CBP), which provides some funding to NPR and PBS, several senators raised the importance of supporting public broadcasting and the negative impacts the proposed cuts would have for local stations in the next fiscal year.  The proposed cuts to PBS and NPR would undermine efforts to ensure that all Americans have access to unbiased news, educational programs, and diverse broadcasts that are not available through commercial media.

Senator Collins stated: “The vast majority of this funding, more than 70 percent, actually flows to local television and radio stations.  In Maine this funding supports everything from emergency communications in rural areas to coverage of high school basketball championships and a locally produced high school quiz show. Nationally produced television programs such as ‘Antiques Roadshow,’ ‘Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,’ are also enjoyed by many throughout our country.”

Republican senators from Alaska, Nebraska, and South Dakota also highlighted the importance of public broadcasting to their constituents in rural communities. 

Speaking about public broadcasting in South Dakota, Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) noted: “They get their funding through NPR – 90 some percent of what they use. They will not continue to exist if we don’t find a way to take care of their needs.  It’s not a large amount of money, but would you be willing to work with us to try and find a way for these places where, literally, they’re not political in nature?  These are the folks that put out the emergency notifications. They talk about community events and so forth. But they’re in very, very rural areas where there simply isn’t an economy to support buying advertising on these stations.”

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting received $525 million in federal funding in 2024 and $535 million in 2025.  If the Trump rescissions package is passed into law, CBP would see its federal budget completely eliminated for 2026 and 2027. 

During his first term, President Trump attempted a similar maneuver to rescind federal funds but was unsuccessful, even though Republicans controlled a majority of both the House and Senate at the time.