U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key).
As negotiations over the massive spending cuts in President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” continue, congressional Republicans are divided over whether to save federal funding for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
Senate leaders on July 16 passed an amendment to protect the landmark global health initiative, which is credited with saving tens of millions of lives over more than two decades, but other critical HIV programs would be axed under the Senate and House versions of the bill.
Speaking with reporters at the White House Thursday, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought signaled Trump’s support for the amendment and the administration’s confidence that his signature legislative package will cross the finish line.
Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress narrowly passed their respective bills, and GOP leaders are now working in close coordination with the president to reconcile them and finalize additional changes through amendments to underlying rescissions packages.
PEPFAR may be a major stumbling block, however. Conservatives in the Senate tend to support international aid generally and global HIV initiatives specifically, while the House GOP caucus includes a group of hardline budget hawks who pushed hard for more cuts to offset the cost of the bill, which is nevertheless projected to add more than $3 trillion to the deficit.
The so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” extends and builds upon tax cuts passed in 2017 that disproportionately benefit the wealthy, beefing up budgets for immigration enforcement and defense while cutting federal spending nearly everywhere else, especially on Medicaid.
As many as 10 million people are expected to lose their health care coverage, a disproportionate number of them LGBTQ.
Notwithstanding his position on the Senate Republicans’ amendment to save PEPFAR, Trump at the start of his second term froze funding for nearly all foreign aid programs, including HIV prevention and treatment initiatives overseas, leading to shortages of medicine and care.
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