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As the Trump administration and congressional Republicans eye passage of a rescission proposal, Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican who doesn’t shy away from bucking President Donald Trump, has indicated that he won’t support it if it guts an AIDS relief program.
The president’s proposed clawbacks include millions of dollars pertaining to global health programs.
“I told them I’m a no,” the congressman said of the measure, according to the New York Times. “I just want to make sure we’re funding the medicine. We want to prevent AIDS, it’s a noble program, it’s George Bush’s legacy. I put the marker out there; we’ll see.”
In a post on X last week, Bacon described “The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)” as “a noble program that America can be proud of funding.”
But in a statement to Fox News Digital on Monday, Bacon said, “If PEPFAR is gutted, I am a no. But I’m told that only parts of the program will be cut. I’ll need more details,”
The rescission package “proposes to rescind $400 million from the PEPFAR program, which is appropriated $4.4 billion annually to provide bilateral assistance to countries, many of which do not support American interests, such as South Africa,” a White House official told Fox News on Monday.
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., arrives for a House Republican conference meeting at the U.S. Capitol on May 6, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
“The $400 million rescission eliminates wasteful programming that does not serve the American taxpayer,” the official said, while maintaining that the “package does NOT rescind any life-saving assistance and in fact, continues to make available billions of resources to implement life-saving medicine, medical services, as well costs necessary to deliver these services to maintain all current individuals on treatment.”
Bacon was the only House Republican to vote against a measure to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.
“I thought it was dumb. That’s what people told me — they said, ‘It’s so dumb; just vote for it.’ That argument didn’t work on me,” he said, according to the Times.
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House leaders have pressed Bacon to keep more of his views to himself, telling him to, as the congressman put it, “quit kicking President Trump in the nuts,” the outlet reported. But the lawmaker indicated that he would only press back when he believes it is needed.
“You can’t be anti-everything,” Bacon noted, according to the outlet. “I like what the president has done on the border, so I have no problem with that.”
“I’d like to fight for the soul of our party,” he said, according to the Times. “I don’t want to be the guy who follows the flute player off the cliff. I think that’s what’s going on right now.”
Bacon has signaled his willingness to push back against the president, while applauding his work on border security. (Rick Scuteri)
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Bacon has served in the House of Representatives since 2017.
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