President Donald Trump President Donald Trump arrives on the South Lawn of the White House from Camp David on Monday, June 9, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)
But lawmakers agreed to carve out the spending cuts with an amendment, and Senate leadership is hopeful that the change will corral enough holdouts to support the bill during a test vote later Tuesday.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., can only afford to lose three Republicans during the partisan process.
Thune said after the meeting that there was "a lot of interest among our members" in seeing the PEPFAR cuts removed, and expressed hope that if lawmakers in the upper chamber could advance the bill, then House Republicans would be open to the modification.
'GUT CHECK TIME': DISSENT AMONG SENATE GOP RANKS THREATENS TO REDUCE TRUMP'S SPENDING CUT DEMAND
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on June 17, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
A senior administration official pushed back against the narrative surrounding the proposed PEPFAR cuts, and told Fox News Digital that the clawbacks were geared toward limited program cuts targeted at "LGBTQ education and capacity building — not core life-saving care."
"We’re already working with countries and other partners to ensure that they shoulder a greater share of the burden where they can," the official said. "We continue to make targeted investments in mother-to-child prevention, and other key areas of focus."
Sen. Eric Schmitt, who has acted as a bridge between the White House and Senate on the rescission package, said that the administration supported the change, but was still unsure if there were enough votes to get the package across the line.
"I'm not in the prediction business, but we're hopeful we'll move forward here," the Missouri Republican said.
Vought argued that it was still "substantially the same package," and noted that the Senate had to work its will on the bill.
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Lawmakers have until Friday before the stroke of midnight to get the bill on the president’s desk, or else the holds that the White House has on the billions in funding will end.
"This is multi-year funding, it has to flow," Vought said. "If we're outside of the 45-day window, we have to remove our hold on the money. So we will not implement the cuts if this is if this vote doesn't go our way."
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-gop-agree-strip-international-hiv-aids-prevention-funding-from-trumps-clawback-bill