White House budget chief Russell Vought faced heat from both sides of the aisle Wednesday as he sought to make the case to senators to pass the administration’s roughly $9 billion in proposed cuts to foreign aid and public broadcasting funds. 

Vought testified before the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee to defend the special request from the administration, which was approved by the House just weeks ago.

The testimony comes amid mounting scrutiny over the administration’s sweeping operation to shrink and reshape the federal government. Just as Vought, head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), was set to testify on Wednesday, a group of protesters disrupted the meeting and appeared to shout, “Vought lies, people die.”

In his opening remarks, Vought touted the proposed cuts as a reflection of the administration’s “steadfast commitment to cutting wasteful federal spending antithetical to American interests.” He pointed to funding for items like “LGBTQ advocacy in Uganda,” “transgender people, sex workers and their clients in Nepal” and “LGBTQ activism.”

“Most Americans would be shocked and appalled to learn that their tax dollars, money they thought was going to medical care, was actually going to far-left activism, population control and sex workers,” Vought said. “To be clear, no lifesaving treatment will be impacted by this rescissions package.”

But lawmakers on both sides have pushed back on the scope of the proposed cuts, arguing that examples like those shared by Vought and other Republicans to make the case for the rescissions package wouldn’t be funded under the Trump administration.

“There’s no way that President Trump’s administration would allow such wasteful and questionable spending,” Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) told Vought. 

“So, I am puzzled why you would be cutting funds that the president signed in March as part of the continuing resolution,” she continued, referring to funding legislation Trump signed in March to keep the government open through September. 

Vought responded that the funding being targeted is “largely multiyear funding,” and that “there is some expiring funds with regard to fiscal year ‘25, but the way that this was structured was to find the waste.”

“We are $37 trillion in national debt,” Vought said. “Our view is to see, when we look at these programs, can we do it cheaper, as evidenced by what we find, and then to reflect that, with some savings to the taxpayer.”

Collins also raised concerns about the administration’s proposed cuts targeting the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and what they could mean for preventative efforts, as well as what “the impact would be on the maternal and child health programs.”

“These are not only the right thing to do for humanitarian reasons, but they’re incredible instruments of soft power,” she said, before asking Vought if the administration looks to cut the “lifesaving multivitamins for pregnant mothers and the food supplement that’s used for malnourished children.”

Vought said that there’d be $10 billion left for PEPFAR if the rescissions package were to pass but questioned the scope of preventative care, while pointing to funds for items recruiting “gender and inclusive development experts” and another “$45 million to International Planned Parenthood Federation.”

Collins countered that “those kinds of wasteful expenditures are not going to occur in this administration.”

“That’s my whole point,” she said, while also pointing to worries among “the private foundations that are contributing to the undertaking of this program that they’re going to expire because they can’t get the federal funding to distribute them.”

The Trump administration is calling on the GOP-led Congress to approve $8.3 billion in cuts to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and foreign aid, and more than $1 billion in cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides some funding to NPR and PBS. 

Democrats have come out in strong opposition to the plan, raising the alarm over how the process could make it harder for both sides to strike a bipartisan funding deal for fiscal 2026.

“What we are here today talking about is one party rescinding funding provided with 60 votes with just a simple majority,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said. “And if that becomes the new normal for how this body operates, that is going to make appropriations bills extremely hard to negotiate.”

The hearing also got tense at one point when Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) grilled Vought over the dismantling of USAID.

“This resulted in the sudden collapse of malnutrition programs, malaria programs, AIDS and HIV programs,” he said, while asking Vought how he felt “being responsible for hundreds of thousands of children dying because of your sudden interruption in these key programs.”

Vought said in response that he rejected “that assertion” and that “every administration has the ability to do a programmatic review when they come into office.”

While Republicans in both chambers have expressed support for targeting funds that go to NPR and PBS, both outlets they’ve accused of harboring political bias, there are GOP members in both chambers who have voiced concerns about the potential impact cuts would have on local stations and rural radio. 

“We have Native American radio stations in South Dakota. They get their funding through NPR,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said during the hearing. “Ninety-some percent of what they use.”

“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 any economy to support buying advertising on these stations,” Rounds said. “They will not continue to exist if we don’t find a way to take care of their needs.”

Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) said she is “very concerned also about the emergency alerts that come to many places in Nebraska, only through that rural radio.”

“We’re a state of vastness, very sparsely populated areas that don’t receive cell service,” she added. “It’s difficult even with landlines in many areas of my state.”

Vought committed to working with the senators to address the matter while also noting the proposed rescissions request focuses on advanced appropriations and not current funding. But some Republicans have still raised concerns about what the cuts would mean for local stations in the next fiscal year.

Under the rescissions process kicked off by the White House, Republicans could claw back funds previously approved by Congress without Democratic support — and they likely would need to in order to secure passage. Zero Democrats also voted in favor of the package of cuts when it was considered in the House earlier this month.

Despite some concerns shared by the GOP side regarding the package, many Republicans have expressed support for it. 

While Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who heads the subcommittee that crafts annual State Department funding, said he will “continue to support PEPFAR” during the hearing, he also said he will vote for the rescissions package

“You know, I’m going to vote for it just as a statement that PEPFAR is important, but it’s not beyond scrutiny, that the way you run the government has consequences,” he said. 

After the hearing, reporters asked Collins for the next steps for the package.

“It is likely to go directly to the floor,” she said when asked about whether the committee will vote on changes to the package. Some members are expecting tweaks will be made to the plan in the coming weeks.

“I want to see fundamental changes in the package, and I’m already working on a substitute,” she also said.

It’s been decades since Congress has approved such a request to yank back funds previously greenlighted by lawmakers. Trump tried to use the same process to rescind funds in his first term but was unsuccessful, despite Republicans controlling the House, Senate and White House at the time.