WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has passed about $9 billion in federal spending cuts requested by President Donald Trump, including deep reductions to public broadcasting and foreign aid, moving forward on one of the president’s top priorities despite concerns from several Republican senators.

The legislation, which now moves to the House, would have a tiny impact on the nation’s rising debt but could have major ramifications for the targeted spending, from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to U.S. food aid programs abroad.

It also could complicate efforts to pass additional spending bills this year, as Democrats and even some Republicans have argued they are ceding congressional spending powers to Trump with little idea of how the White House Office of Management and Budget would apply the cuts.

The 51-48 vote came after 2 a.m. Thursday after Democrats sought to remove many of the proposed rescissions during 12 hours of amendment votes. None of the Democratic amendments were adopted.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Republicans were using the president’s rescissions request to target wasteful spending. He said it is a “small but important step for fiscal sanity that we all should be able to agree is long overdue.”

But Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, said the bill “has a big problem — nobody really knows what program reductions are in it.”

Collins and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, joined Democrats in voting against the legislation. Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former Republican leader, had voted against moving forward with the bill in a Tuesday procedural vote, saying he was concerned the Trump White House wanted a “blank check,” but he ultimately voted for final passage.

The effort to claw back a sliver of federal spending comes after Republicans also muscled Trump’s big tax and spending cut bill to approval without any Democratic support. The Congressional Budget Office has projected that measure will increase future federal deficits by about $3.3 trillion over the coming decade.

Lawmakers clash over cuts to public radio and TV stations

Along with Democrats, Collins and Murkowski both expressed concerns about the cuts to public broadcasting, saying they could affect important rural stations in their states.

Murkowski said in a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday that the stations are “not just your news — it is your tsunami alert, it is your landslide alert, it is your volcano alert.”

Less than a day later, as the Senate debated the bill, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck off the remote Alaska Peninsula, triggering tsunami warnings on local public broadcasting stations that advised people to get to higher ground.

The situation is “a reminder that when we hear people rant about how public broadcasting is nothing more than this radical, liberal effort to pollute people’s minds, I think they need to look at what some of the basic services are to communities,” Murkowski said.

The legislation would claw back nearly $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which represents the full amount it’s due to receive during the next two budget years.

The corporation distributes more than 70% of the money to more than 1,500 locally operated public television and radio stations, with much of the remainder assigned to National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service to support national programming.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said he secured a deal from the White House that some funding administered by the Interior Department would be repurposed to subsidize Native American public radio stations in about a dozen states.

But Kate Riley, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations, a network of locally owned and operated stations, said that deal was “at best a short-term, half-measure that will still result in cuts and reduced service at the stations it purports to save, while leaving behind all other stations, including many that serve Native populations.”

Slashing billions of dollars from foreign aid

The legislation would also claw back about $8 billion in foreign aid spending.

Among the cuts are $800 million for a program that provides emergency shelter, water and sanitation and family reunification for those who flee their own countries and $496 million to provide food, water and health care for countries hit by natural disasters and conflicts. There also is a $4.15 billion cut for programs that aim to boost economies and democratic institutions in developing nations.

Democrats argued the Trump administration’s animus toward foreign aid programs would hurt America’s standing in the world and create a vacuum for China to fill.

Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said the amount of money it takes to save a starving child or prevent the transmission of disease is miniscule, even as the investments secure cooperation with the U.S. on other issues. The cuts being made to foreign aid programs through Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency were having life-and-death consequences around the world, he said.

“People are dying right now, not in spite of us but because of us,” Schatz said. “We are causing death.”

After objections from several Republicans, GOP leaders took out a $400 million cut to PEPFAR, a politically popular program to combat HIV/AIDS that is credited with saving millions of lives since its creation under then-President George W. Bush.

Looking ahead to future spending fights

Democrats say the bill upends a legislative process that typically requires lawmakers from both parties to work together to fund the nation’s priorities. Triggered by the official recissions request from the White House, the legislation only needs a simple majority vote instead of the 60 votes usually required to break a filibuster, meaning Republicans can use their 53-47 majority to pass it along party lines.

The Trump administration is promising more rescission packages to come if the first effort is successful. But some Republicans who supported the bill indicated they might be wary of doing so again.

“Let’s not make a habit of this,” said Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, who voted for the bill but said he was wary that the White House wasn’t providing enough information on what exactly will be cut. Wicker said there are members “who are very concerned, as I am, about this process.”

North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis echoed similar concerns and said Republicans will need to work with Democrats to keep the government running later in the year.

“The only way to fund the government is to get at least seven Democrats to vote with us at the end of September or we could go into a shutdown,” Tillis said.

–Reporting by Kevin Freking and Mary Clare Jalonick, The Associated Press. Associated Press reporter Becky Bohrer contributed.

Michigan school districts face tough choices as their fiscal years began Tuesday while the Legislature remains deadlocked on the state K-12 budget.

The Republican-controlled House and the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats, adjourned and left town earlier this week after it became clear they would not reach a deal by the July 1 deadline set in state law. There are big differences between the chambers’ differing versions and it appears possible if not likely the budget will hang fire into the fall.

“We’ve seen school districts passing budgets that make cuts, that pink slip employees, that dip heavily into their reserve funds that they aren’t supposed to be touching,” said Robert McCann, executive director of the K-12 Alliance of Michigan.

McCann said this outcome was foreseeable as the budget process lagged months behind the typical process and missed key benchmarks, including getting initial versions adopted in the spring so they could move to bicameral, bipartisan conference committees to hammer out final versions. Those conference committee versions would have to be approved without amendments in up-or-down votes of the House and Senate before they would go to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for her signature.

“And instead we were left with this sort of chaos situation of trying to scramble something together before the deadline and, ultimately, there wasn’t the will or the way to make that happen and it’s really because of months and months of inaction,” said McCann. “This failure has been happening over the past five, six months now of delays and inaction and seemingly not caring about the urgency of getting a K-12 budget done on time.”

There are no consequences to lawmakers for missing the July deadline, which was enacted by the Legislature after a 2007 deadlock between then Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) and a politically divided Legislature led to a brief partial government shutdown.

The state’s fiscal year begins in three months on Oct. 1, when the Michigan Constitution requires a balanced budget to be signed.

Michigan lawmakers left the state capitol Tuesday night again without passing a new state budget for K-12 schools.

Tuesday was the statutory deadline for passing an entire state budget. But lawmakers likely won’t be back for a couple of weeks.

That means school districts have started a new fiscal year without knowing how much money they’ll be getting from the state. 

The Democratic-controlled Senate adjourned first, throwing in the towel in the late afternoon. Leadership said the Senate and the Republican-led House were still worlds apart in their negotiations.

Speaking to reporters, Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) said she’d like schools to have more reassurance when it comes to their funding.

“I think we’re in a position where, when we can give them more certainty, sooner is better, and we will do everything we can to get there,” Brinks said before adding, “There’s not much more that they can learn this week. I think we’re continuing to hear from school leaders in our community that the want a better budget — not a fast budget — so that is our guiding principle at this point.”

There are several differences not only between each chamber’s proposals, but how they’re approaching the talks themselves.

The Senate has been adamant about wanting a full budget passed at the same time. House leadership has shut down that idea, instead arguing that a schools budget and a separate roads funding plan that could have implications for school money should go first.

Beyond that, the House schools proposal would raise the base-level funding for schools but cancel out directed spending on items like free school meals or mental health support. House Republicans say it would give districts more flexibility on how they spend their money.

The Senate also proposes more per-student funding but Senate Democrats want that directed spending maintained.

House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp) said he still hoped the House could pass a new proposal with bipartisan support after the Senate walked.

Hall said, as a way to pressure the Senate, he offered House Democrats restored funding for school meals and rural school transportation to gain their votes. He called that deal a win-win, and said a similar deal was on the table with the Senate.

“We win because we keep pressure on to get a school budget done quickly and also to get roads done and they win because they can establish relevancy in the budget process. I thought that was a critical opportunity for them and I think they missed that opportunity,” Hall said.

That plan never came to fruition. After session Tuesday, House Democrats said they didn’t feel Hall was working in good faith.

No budget means schools still don’t know how much money they’ll get for things like teachers, resource officers, or free meals for students.

Michigan lawmakers went home without passing a new budget for K-12 schools Thursday night. That’s despite, both meeting for hours and a statutory July 1 deadline for getting an entire state budget done.

It appears part of the holdup is how to handle earmarks for programs like free school lunches or mental health services. The Democratic-led Senate wants them maintained while the Republican-controlled House of Representatives wants to cut them in favor of giving districts more money per student.

House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp) is also trying to get a road funding plan passed alongside the school budget.

Hall spoke to reporters Thursday night after spending hours negotiating with Senate leadership, the governor, and their teams. He said the leaders were leaving with “a roadmap” that will help them get a deal done next week.

“The House Republicans are committed to working through the weekend, working tomorrow, and working more tonight. Working over the weekend with our goal of still trying to get something done on roads and education by July 1,” Hall said.

Hall said he believed his Democratic counterparts worked better with added pressure from that deadline. He claimed the Senate adding more session days to its calendar for next week as a win.

The Senate had planned to take the first two weeks of July off.

All sides of the negotiating table say they’re optimistic about getting something done, acknowledging it would be difficult.

Reporters caught State Budget Director Jen Flood leaving the governor’s office at the state Capitol Thursday night. She said negotiators were “having great conversations,” when pressed for a comment.

Democrats, however, are still frustrated by the time crunch. They accuse House Republicans of delaying the process by waiting until a couple weeks ago to release their school budget proposal.

Rep. Alabas Farhat (D-Dearborn) is the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.

“We are seeing a budget process that normally takes months to play out, playing out within a span of four to five days,” Farhat said. “We shouldn’t be in this spot right now where we’re five days before the [statutory] deadline contemplating whether or not we’ll have this budget. So school districts don’t have to keep wondering and teachers don’t have to keep wondering if they’re going to be pink slipped or not.”

Hall said he and House Republicans have been vocal about wanting to keep to the July 1 deadline for months. Democrats have as well, though some have raised doubts in recent weeks about that feasibility without having a complete budget proposal from the House.

The odds of passing a full state budget next week are dim.

The July 1 deadline for the Legislature and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to have a budget deal wrapped up arrives in just over a week and the House and Senate don’t appear to be close.

The House has yet to adopt its version of a budget package. But Republican House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) has proposed a stop-gap budget and called Democrats “not serious” about getting a budget done. Hall said this week he has hopes of getting education budgets out of the House soon, although earlier he suggested the House isn’t bound by hard budget deadlines.

In his weekly press conference Wednesday, Hall accused Democrats of not being serious about the budget.

“I’ve never had confidence that the Democrats, because of the people we’re working with, and you look at the quotes, that we’re going to get something done by July 1,” he said. “But I’ve always told people I’ll work in good faith to do it on some of them.”

The House did adopt a higher education budget last week with big reductions to state funding for the University of Michigan and Michigan State University while other public universities would get boosts. The House also adopted a school aid budget this past week. Both are a month behind the Senate’s actions on budgets. The House has yet to approve its versions of budget bills for state departments and agencies. That spending does interact with school, community college and university budgets in some areas.

Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) said Thursday that Hall is single-handedly driving the state toward a budget crisis. She said it’s not reasonable to expect the Senate to rubber stamp House-adopted budgets on arrival.

“By its very nature, it must be negotiated by the House and the Senate and the governor, so it’s incredibly irresponsible to wait until the last minute,” she told the Michigan Public Radio Network. ” At the end of the day, this is very Trump-like behavior to cause a crisis and then to come in at the last second and pretend that they’re being heroic and pretend that it’s somebody else’s fault that it doesn’t get done.”

Local governments, community colleges, public universities and K-12 schools all have fiscal years that begin July 1. There is a state law that requires the Legislature to have their budgets wrapped up by then, but there are no specific consequences for missing that deadline.

The state’s fiscal year begins October 1.