Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., told Newsmax on Wednesday that Congress had to pass a rescissions package to reduce spending, saying that the $9 billion cut is “a drop in the bucket” compared to the full federal budget.

The Senate on Wednesday passed a rescissions package, after Vice President JD Vance cast a tie-breaking vote, that will cut $9 billion from the federal budget, including cuts to PBS and NPR, but leave out roughly $400 million in proposed cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, an international AIDS and HIV prevention program that’s helped millions of Africans receive lifesaving treatment.

Smith, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, told “National Report,” when asked about the funding for PEPFAR, that “the three ‘no’ votes over in the Senate” against the version of the bill that included the cuts to PEPFAR “happen to be the three highest ranking appropriators on the Republican side.”

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