Outgoing GOP Senator Warns Party Will Need to Fix Latest Spending Cuts: ‘We’re Going to Regret’ This

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) spoke on the Senate floor on Wednesday and announced he would vote for the GOP rescission package, but warned that Republicans would likely come to “regret” some of the cuts in the bill and need to pass further legislation to fix it. Tillis’s remarkable statement came a day after Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced a bill to repeal some of the Medicaid cuts in Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill.” Hawley, who voted for the original Medicaid cuts, told reporters of his rollback, “Now is the time to prevent any future cuts to Medicaid from going into effect.”

“And I intend to vote for final passage at this time. I’m also looking at other amendments that maybe will make the bill better, but I also have to speak to the unique nature of this rescissions package so that we make sure that we get this right and we lay the groundwork for future rescissions,” Tillis said to begin his speech, adding:

The only time that we’ve had a successful rescissions package in modern history was 1992. And that rescission—and by the way, for those who don’t know what rescission is, it just simply means this funding will be cut. You will not be allowed to spend money in the administration. Well, in 1992, the successful rescissions package actually had significant cuts, but in every case, it had very detailed list of specific programs that were gonna be cut.

So then as members, when they proceeded in 1992—candidly I wasn’t even paying attention to politics back in 1992 at this level—but when they were proceeding with the rescissions package, they could look at a specific line item and come to the floor like we’re gonna do this afternoon and say, “I don’t like that line item, I’m gonna see if I have enough support among my colleagues to take that one out. I’ll end up voting for the rescission, but I want that out because I disagree that we should be cutting the funding.”

In an ideal world, that success in 1992 would have instructed the rescissions package we have before us today. But the reality is, we don’t have those details. I’m prepared to vote for this rescission package with the hope that I can trust those who are gonna make the detailed decisions for about $7 billion of the total $9 billion rescission.

About two billion of it is associated with National Public Radio, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. People have asked me why wouldn’t I try to vote on an amendment to cut that out because I believe that those organizations have drifted over time, that we probably at some point should not provide funding to them. But I’m not going to fight that part of the rescission. At least we know exactly what it is, so members have to decide whether or not they’re okay with it.

Tillis, who announced he wouldn’t seek reelection after a spat with Trump Medicaid cuts, concluded by noting, “I suspect we’re gonna find out there are some things that we’re going to regret, some second and third order effects, and I suspect that when we do, we’ll have to come back and fix it. Similar to what I’m trying to do with the bill I voted against a couple of weeks ago, the so-called Big Beautiful bill, that I think we’re gonna have to go back and work on.”

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) also took to the floor and accused Republicans of double-dealing with the Democrats. “Never before has either party done what Republicans are doing today: pass a partisan rescissions bill double-crossing the minority party and cancelling spending that just months before, both parties shook hands on,” Murphy said, referring to the Senate’s previous spending bill.

Watch the clip above via C-SPAN.