White House agrees to exempt PEPFAR from rescissions package

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — The Senate took up for consideration a request from the White House to rescind approximately $9 billion in previously appropriated funds for international aid programs and public broadcasting, among other cuts. However, Senate negotiators likely will reject cuts to PEPFAR, the U.S. government’s global effort to combat HIV/AIDS, with the White House’s agreement.

The White House in June asked Congress to cancel billions of dollars in funding that had previously been approved for spending, in what’s known as a rescissions package, with a 45-day deadline ending July 18.

Catholic Relief Services, the overseas charitable arm of the Catholic Church in the U.S., has advocated for U.S. foreign aid to continue on a new path shaped by Catholic principles, and has expressed concern over the rescissions.

“Congress — with the signature of the president — just approved in March the fiscal year 2026 budget, and this rescissions package would take back some of the money they just approved,” Bill O’Keefe, executive vice president for Mission, Mobilization and Advocacy at CRS, told OSV News.

In remarks July 15 on the Senate floor, Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., called the package “commonsense legislation” that would “cut somewhere around $9 billion in wasteful spending, with a focus on woke and wasteful foreign aid dollars.”

The rescissions package would codify cuts to programs targeted by the Department of Government Efficiency, formerly spearheaded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has since had a falling out with President Donald Trump.

The cuts include funds previously designated and approved for the now-shuttered U.S. Agency for International Development, also known as USAID, as well as those for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS and provides grants to several hundred local radio and TV stations, nearly half of them in rural areas.

Arguing against cuts to foreign assistance, O’Keefe said, “We’re in the time where we’ve got increasing needs from conflict, from drought, climate-induced storms and in decreasing government assistance. And so to kind of back out of a budget we just approved a couple months ago in that environment is really troubling.”

One point of contention with the package from some Senate Republicans was a cut to PEPFAR, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Authorized by Congress and President George W. Bush in 2003, PEPFAR is the largest global health program devoted to a single disease. It is credited with saving 25 million lives from AIDS and with scaling back the epidemic’s spread.

But Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., who is working with the White House on the rescissions package, told reporters July 15 a $400 million cut to PEPFAR would be removed from the package.

White House Budget Director Russ Vought appeared to sign off on that removal, telling reporters, “We’re fine with adjustments.”

“This is still a great package, $9 billion, substantially the same package,” Vought said. “The Senate has to work its will, and we’ve appreciated the work along the way to get to a place where they think they’ve got the votes.”

Asked about PEPFAR, O’Keefe said CRS has been “a major implementer” of the program.

“We are incredibly proud of all the lives that we and our partners contributed to saving by providing antiretroviral medication and helping people to make decisions so that they could live a dignified life, take care of themselves and their families,” he said. “It’s just really an incredible accomplishment.”

O’Keefe said PEFPAR has been “an incredible accomplishment” and that “cutting PEPFAR would be a terrible disaster.”

“Every PEPFAR dollar contributes to antiretroviral medications getting to people who need them, to helping orphans and vulnerable children to get medical support with their needs for antiretroviral medication, to prevent mother-to-child transmission, and to provide a safe environment where where those kids can grow up and make good decisions that keep them out of trouble,” he said.

Senate rules do not require rescissions bills to meet the 60-vote threshold needed to advance most legislation, and they can be passed with just a simple majority.

However, with 53 Republicans in the majority, Thune can only lose just three of his members to approve the package without Democratic support, with Vice President JD Vance voting to break a tie in that scenario.

Both the House and Senate must reconcile their respective rescissions packages before sending it to Trump’s desk. If the July 18 deadline is not met, the Trump administration is required under law to release the appropriated funds.

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