Senate Republicans are removing $400 million in proposed funding cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program from a rescissions package ahead of a deadline at the end of this week.

The decision was announced after GOP senators met on Tuesday with White House Director Russell Vought regarding the measure designed to codify spending reductions in line with recommendations from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told reporters there was “a lot of interest among our members in doing something on the PEPFAR issue,” resulting in a “small modification” that leaves the rescissions package, which seeks to slash funds for programs Republicans deem to be wasteful and ideologically driven, at roughly $9 billion.

The GOP-led House narrowly passed the rescissions package in June following a request by the Trump administration. It sought to claw back $9.4 billion in “reckless spending,” as House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) told The Daily Wire, by targeting foreign aid projects and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides funds to NPR and PBS.

Under the Impoundment Control Act, lawmakers in Congress were given 45 days to act on the request, and it requires only a simple majority in the House and Senate — meaning the filibuster threshold can be ignored. The deadline is Friday, meaning the Senate and the House must both pass the revised measure in the next couple of days.

House Republicans had been urging the Senate not to make any changes, but they could end up approving the slimmer version, particularly after the White House reportedly gave the Senate its blessing to remove the PEPFAR section.

Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC) responded in particular to Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who said she wanted to strike the PEPFAR cuts from the rescissions package, contending the program was a success in saving millions of lives.

“All of that spending” is a far cry from PEPFAR’s original mission, to combat “the AIDS epidemic in Africa when it first started,” Harris told The Daily Wire.

In addition, a senior Trump administration official told The Daily Wire on Tuesday that “limited” program cuts to PEPFAR took aim at “LGBTQ education and capacity building — not core life-saving care.”

Democrat senators and the independents who caucus with them are likely to vote in unison against passing the measure, leaving Republicans and their slim majority unable to afford more than a couple GOP defectors. Vice President JD Vance might be needed for a tie-breaker.

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) announced on Monday that he came around on the rescissions package after the Trump administration helped find money that could be reallocated to continue grants for tribal broadcast services that offer “potentially lifesaving emergency alerts” in his state.

House Republicans blocked the Democrats’ move on Monday night that would have forced the Trump administration to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. 

The Democratic amendment to cryptocurrency legislation, first introduced by Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA), sought to allow Congress to vote on whether the files should be published. It was barred in a 5-7 vote, with all but one of the GOP members of the House Rules Committee voting against the amendment. 

“The question with Epstein is: Whose side are you on?” Khanna told Axios ahead of the vote. “Are you on the side of the rich and powerful, or are you on the side of the people?”

He reportedly vowed to introduce the measure “again and again and again.” 

Khanna’s amendment would have required Attorney General Pam Bondi to make all of the files about Epstein available on a “publicly accessible website,” and she would have to comply within 30 days of the procedure’s enactment. 

In a surprise twist, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) voted in favor of the proposed amendment. 

“The public’s been asking for it,” he said, according to Axios. “I think there are files. All of a sudden not to have files is a little strange. We’ll see how it plays out. … I think the president will do the right thing.”

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) abstained from the vote. 

Epstein was a convicted child rapist and sex trafficker who had ties to multiple celebrities, billionaires, and politicians. He died in his jail cell in 2019, allegedly having committed suicide, but much of the public remains unconvinced. 

In February, Pam Bondi stated in an interview with Fox News that the Epstein client list was on her desk, ready for review after being asked by Fox News’ John Roberts about a “list of Epstein’s clients.”

“It’s sitting on my desk right now to review,” she said in response to Roberts. “That’s been a directive by President Trump. I’m reviewing that.” 

Yet, on July 7, Bondi clarified that she meant that the Epstein files were ready for her review, not a client list. 

“I think most of us believe what’s appropriate will be released when it is time for the president to release it,” Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), the chair of the Rules Committee, said.