Before casting his vote in favor of President Trump’s request to claw back $9 billion for foreign aid and public broadcasting, Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, made a striking admission.
“We have no earthly idea what specific cuts will occur,” Mr. Tillis said, adding that the White House had not provided senators with detailed information on which programs it would be targeting.
But Mr. Tillis, who is retiring at the end of his term in 2026, said he would vote for it nonetheless.
“I’m willing to give O.M.B. and the president the benefit of the doubt,” he said, referring to the White House budget office.
He was not the only Republican who made the case that the legislation trampled on Congress’s constitutional responsibilities, lamenting the move right up until the moment they voted to approve it. The House, where Republicans have been far more docile about handing over their power to the president, was poised to give final approval of the measure as early as Thursday evening, sending it to Mr. Trump for his signature.
It has become something of a routine among Republicans on Capitol Hill. Faced with a president with a maximalist view of his power who demands unflagging loyalty and disdains dissent, G.O.P. lawmakers — even those who grouse about doing so — have repeatedly bowed to Mr. Trump on the most fundamental issues, giving over constitutional prerogatives in the process.
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