WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) tonight took to the Senate floor to slam the Trump Administration’s reckless request to rescind $9.4 billion in Fiscal Years (FY) 2024 and 2025 Congressionally-appropriated funds, which provide vital support to Americans through public broadcasting and radio networks and promote U.S. global leadership.
In his remarks, Senator Welch emphasized how rescinding these funds will put American lives at risk, damage security alliances and global partnerships, and erode Congress’s constitutional authority over appropriations.
“The President likes to talk about his historic mandate. He did win—it was 2 million votes out of 152 million cast. It was a small margin of victory, the smallest by a Republican presidential candidate since the 1900s. My point here is not so much the size of the ‘mandate.’ Whatever the ‘mandate,’ a President should embrace the responsibility that he or she has to the entire country, and that includes folks who didn’t vote for him,” said Senator Welch.
“I do not believe even those who did were voting to risk their lives and their children’s lives by cutting funds to stop the spread of Ebola, or measles, or West Nile virus. This wasn’t a mandate to shut down programs to defend democracy where it’s under assault. This was not a vote to withdraw from UNICEF. This was not a vote, necessarily, to turn our back on the world’s refugees, including in particular, Afghan refugees who saved lives of our men and women in uniform.”
Senator Welch concluded: “Of course, Article I gives to the Congress the power to tax and the power to spend. And it is absolutely essential we do that carefully and wisely because our constituents are the ones who are going to pay the bill through taxes we assess, and they are the ones who are going to receive the benefits through appropriations we make. But to abdicate that power—which is essentially what this rescission would accommodate for the executive—is to turn over that power to the President. And it’s not just a matter of it being this President—it’s any President. In order for us to meet our responsibilities, we have to adhere to our constitutional responsibility under Article I. We are the ones who are subject to the will of the people—in the House every two years, in the Senate every six years—to account for how we tax and how we spend. Let’s not dodge by delegating that power to the executive.”
Watch Senator Welch’s full speech below:
The following programs would be eliminated or drastically reduced if the Trump Administration’s request for recissions are approved:
- A cut of $1.1B for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
- A cut of $500 million for Global Health Programs, for activities to protect child and maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, and other infectious diseases.
- A cut of $800 million for assistance for refugees, like those fleeing genocide in Darfur and Burma.
- A cut of $83 million for programs to support democracy, through organizations like the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute, and Freedom House, which have always received strong bipartisan support.
- A cut of $1.65 billion for the Economic Support Fund, which funds economic assistance for Jordan, Egypt, Indonesia, Lebanon, and scores of other programs that combat corruption, transnational money laundering and terrorist financing, human and wildlife trafficking, and that build markets for U.S. exports.
- A cut of $460 million for assistance for Georgia, Armenia, Macedonia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and the other former Soviet Republics.
- A cut of $496 million for international disaster assistance that provides life-saving aid for victims of natural and man-made disasters, from earthquakes and hurricanes to armed conflicts.
- A cut of $202 million for specialized agencies, including for the United States’ contribution to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Senator Welch has been a leading voice in pushing back against the Trump Administration’s unlawful efforts to dismantle vital programs and terminate billions of dollars in life-saving aid. Following the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency,” or DOGE’s, unlawful firings of over 5,500 U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees, Senator Welch demanded answers from the State Department on DOGE’s actions that directly violate funds appropriated by Congress through the Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) Department of State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Act.
In April, Senator Welch spoke on the Senate Floor on how President Trump’s January 20th Executive Order suspending admission to the United States for Afghan refugees has left vulnerable families stranded and abandoned thousands who face persecution. In his remarks, the Senator urged Congress to expedite the resettlement of Afghan refugees, many of whom worked with, and for, the U.S. government, our diplomats, and our intelligence officers.
Learn more about Senator Welch’s work by visiting his website or by following him on social media.
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