House Republicans on Wednesday advanced spending legislation that would provide billions more dollars than what President Trump requested for foreign aid, global health, peacekeeping activities and international broadcasting in the coming year, defying Mr. Trump’s wishes for more drastic funding cuts.
The measure, if enacted, would still slash the foreign aid and the State Department budget compared with the current year, cutting it by 22 percent, to $46.2 billion. But House Republicans moved to salvage key programs that Mr. Trump is seeking to eliminate altogether, such as for peacekeeping activities, supporting democracies abroad and global health initiatives for family planning and reproductive care.
It would also provide more than four times the funding that the president has requested for international broadcasting activities, despite Mr. Trump’s push to shut down the Voice of America and other federally funded news organizations that provide independent coverage in countries with limited press freedom.
Yet even as they voted to provide money for programs the president wants to gut, Republicans proposed handing the White House more power to ignore Congress’ spending dictates altogether. They removed standard language from the spending measure that makes it more difficult for the executive branch to cancel spending that Congress has approved. That drew angry protests from Democrats, who accused the G.O.P. of abdicating the power of the purse.
“You do want to give up the authority of the committee,” said Representative Steny Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland. He accused Republicans of turning Congress into a body that “passes suggestions,” not laws.
“Stand up for America,” said Mr. Hoyer, berating his Republican colleagues. “Stand up for the committee. Stand up for the Congress. Stand up for the Constitution.”
The action came as the House Appropriations Committee met to consider the annual spending bill to fund national security and foreign affairs programs, which the panel ultimately approved on a party-line vote. The measure would incorporate some aspects of Mr. Trump’s sledgehammering of the State Department and foreign aid programs, cutting more than $5.5 billion in economic development and global health programs and nearly $4 billion in funds for international organizations.
Democrats heavily criticized its steep reductions to humanitarian assistance, the American contribution to international organizations like World Bank and the United Nations, and foreign aid programs, warning that pulling back in those areas would only boost U.S. adversaries.
“When we retreat from the global stage, China and Russia fill in the gaps,” said Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the committee. “And the world becomes a more dangerous place.”
But the legislation would also preserve some key programs that Mr. Trump has targeted but that many Republicans deem essential to American national security interests.
For example, the legislation would double Mr. Trump’s request for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR, which would absorb only a small cut from its current budget and receive more than $6.2 billion. Mr. Trump had sought to slash that program as part of a rescissions package he sent Congress that canceled $9 billion in already approved spending, but Republicans balked and protected it while approving the rest of the clawbacks.
“We were in danger of losing this program,” said Representative Mark Alford, Republican of Missouri, who credited Representative Mario Díaz-Balart of Florida, the Republican chairman of the appropriations panel’s foreign affairs subcommittee, for preserving the funding.
“Our chairman went to bat for this program,” he said. “He found the money for this program, and this program will exist.”
In other cases, Republicans moved to restore money for programs that Mr. Trump wants to end.
The president’s budget requested zero dollars for anti-tropical disease and nutrition support programs, as well as the international vaccine nonprofit GAVI, which distributes preventive shots across low-income countries. The Republican bill would provide hundreds of millions of dollars in total for those programs.
Republicans also tried to salvage hundreds of millions of dollars for nonprofits organizations Mr. Trump proposed defunding entirely that run programs aimed at supporting democracies and fostering economic growth overseas. Those nonprofits include the National Endowment for Democracy, The Asia Foundation and the East-West Center.
Minho Kim covers breaking news and climate change for The Times. He is based in Washington.
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