BREAKING: GOP Threatens UNICEF Cuts—Kids’ Lives Depend On YOUR Actions - Bulwark Takes

Summary

Podcast Summary: Bulwark Takes Episode Title: BREAKING: GOP Threatens UNICEF Cuts—Kids’ Lives Depend On YOUR Actions
Release Date: July 16, 2025
Host: Tim Miller, The Bulwark

Overview

In this episode of Bulwark Takes, host Tim Miller addresses a crucial and urgent political development: the Republican Party's attempt to cut funding to UNICEF through a proposed rescissions package. Miller delves into the specifics of the bill, the internal dynamics within the Senate, the vital role of UNICEF, and the broader implications of these budgetary decisions. He passionately argues against the proposed cuts, emphasizing the moral and humanitarian consequences of such actions.

Breaking Down the Rescissions Package

Vote Dynamics and Key Players ([01:30]

Miller begins by outlining the current state of the Senate regarding the rescissions package:

Narrow Margin: The Senate is currently deadlocked at a 50-50 split. JD Vance holds the crucial tie-breaking vote.
Republican Divisions: Three Republican senators—Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski, and Susan Collins—have already opposed the bill, contributing to the stalemate.
Upcoming Procedures: The bill is set for final passage with a vote scheduled for the following day, which is expected to maintain the 50-50 split. Additionally, there is a possibility of amendments being introduced during the so-called "vote-a-rama" process.

Potential Amendments and Concerns ([03:15]

Several Republican senators have expressed reservations about the bill:

Mike Rounds (South Dakota): Criticized certain aspects of the bill.
Roger Wicker (Mississippi): Voiced concerns, especially after the removal of cuts to PEPFAR—a program many Republicans respect due to its legacy from the Bush administration.
Thom Tillis (North Carolina): Engaged in debates with the President, indicating further potential opposition.

Miller highlights that while some cuts to PEPFAR were initially included, they were subsequently removed, signaling adjustments to appease conservative factions.

UNICEF Funding Under Scrutiny

Specifics of the Cut ([05:00]

The focal point of Miller's discussion is the proposed $100 million cut to UNICEF's Core Resources Fund, a seemingly minor line item within a broader $9 billion reduction in previously appropriated funds. He emphasizes that:

Critical Role: The Core Resources Fund provides UNICEF with flexible funding essential for emergency responses and ongoing programs worldwide.
Impact Examples:
- Bangladesh: Contributed to a 40% reduction in stunting among children under five.
- Republic of Congo: Supported health facilities catering to over 100,000 children.

Misconceptions and Moral Implications ([07:45]

Miller counters Republican criticisms by clarifying that UNICEF's programs are neither wasteful nor frivolous. He asserts:

Life-Saving Work: UNICEF's initiatives have led to a more than 60% reduction in preventable deaths of children under five since 1990.
Moral Responsibility: Cutting funds to such a vital organization contradicts the values of compassion and responsibility that many Republicans profess.

Quotes Highlighting the Issue:

"UNICEF has some earmarked funds for specific projects, but the Core Resources is critical flexible funding that UNICEF can use to direct resources where they're needed in case of emergency." ([06:10])
"The number of preventable deaths for children under five have been cut by more than 60% since 1990 thanks to the work that UNICEF has been doing." ([08:30])
"It is absolutely insane that the Republicans would jam through on a party line vote that requires a tie-breaking vote from the vice president, a rescission bill that would cut this tiny line item that goes to save dying kids around the world." ([10:00])

Critique of Republican Budget Priorities

Selective Funding Cuts ([09:20]

Miller critiques the Republican approach to budget cuts, arguing that it reflects misplaced priorities:

Disproportionate Spending: While proposing cuts to UNICEF, the GOP recently passed a $45 billion bill funding prisons and detention centers for immigrants.
Inconsistent Fiscal Responsibility: He points out the irony in claiming fiscal responsibility while increasing the national debt by trillions and refusing to balance the budget meaningfully.

Moral Dichotomy ([10:50]

He underscores a moral inconsistency within the GOP's budgetary decisions:

"How do you square that? How can anybody square that within their values or their framework?" ([10:30])
"We're going to take the most vulnerable people throughout the world, little babies in other countries and we're going to cut their budget." ([11:00])

Call to Action

Mobilizing Listeners ([11:20]

Miller urges listeners to take immediate action to prevent the proposed cuts:

Contact Senators: He provides specific names and reasons to reach out to various Republican senators who might sway their votes:
- Katie Britt (Alabama): Described as a "reasonable Christian woman" who is pro-life.
- Roger Wicker (Mississippi): Has already shown concerns about the bill.
- James Lankford (Oklahoma): Known for his reasonableness.
- Thom Tillis (North Carolina): Encouraged to step up against the cuts.
- Bill Cassidy (Louisiana): A doctor who has treated the vulnerable.

Final Plea:

"Please call your senators and if this thing gets voted on tomorrow, call your congressman because it's a narrow majority in the House as well, and try to get this funding put back in because this is crazy." ([11:45])
"We can afford UNICEF. We can feed little kids and we can prevent the spread of deadly diseases and AIDS in other countries. That is something that America is capable of doing still, I hope, I hope so." ([12:10])

Miller emphasizes the importance of collective action to preserve essential humanitarian efforts and counteract what he perceives as morally and fiscally irresponsible budgetary decisions by the GOP.

Conclusion

In this episode, Tim Miller effectively highlights the gravity of the GOP's proposed cuts to UNICEF, framing it as not only a fiscal misstep but also a moral failing. By detailing the potential impacts, critiquing inconsistent budget priorities, and mobilizing listeners to take action, Miller underscores the importance of safeguarding funding for organizations that save children's lives globally.

Notable Quotes:

"The number of preventable deaths for children under five have been cut by more than 60% since 1990 thanks to the work that UNICEF has been doing." ([08:30])
"We're going to take the most vulnerable people throughout the world, little babies in other countries and we're going to cut their budget." ([11:00])
"Please call your senators and if this thing gets voted on tomorrow, call your congressman because it's a narrow majority in the House as well, and try to get this funding put back in because this is crazy." ([11:45])

Stay Tuned:

Tim Miller wraps up the episode by teasing future content, including discussions on FBI matters and upcoming interviews. He encourages listeners to subscribe to the Bulwark Takes feed to stay informed on pressing political issues.

This summary provides an in-depth overview of the episode's key points and arguments, ensuring that listeners who haven't tuned in can fully grasp the critical discussions surrounding the GOP's proposed cuts to UNICEF.

Transcript

A (0:00)

When you think about businesses that are selling through the roof, Allbirds or skims, sure you think about a great product, a cool brand and brilliant marketing. But an often overlooked secret is actually the businesses behind the business making selling and for the shoppers buying simple. For millions of businesses, that business is Shopify. Nobody does selling better than Shopify. Home of the number one checkout on the planet. And the not so secret secret with shop pay that boosts conversions up to 50%, meaning way less carts going abandoned and way more sales going. So if you're into growing your business, your commerce platform better be ready to sell wherever your customers are scrolling or strolling on the web, in your store, in their feed and everywhere in between. Businesses that sell more sell on Shopify, upgrade your business and get the same checkout skims uses. Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at shopify.com audioboom all lowercase go to shopify.com audioboom to upgrade your selling today. Shopify.com audioboom hey everybody, Tim Miller from the Bulwark here.

B (1:12)

We have some breaking news tonight. The Senate as we speak is waiting on JD Vance to cast the tie breaking vote on a rescissions package that would cut about 9 billion in pre previously appropriated funds from the budget. A bunch of stuff in there but I want to focus on just this small line item in the grand scheme of things. 100 million that would go to UNICEF, the United International Children's Emergency Fund UNICEF stands for. And previously there had been a bipartisan effort to support this organization. It helps feed and take care of the most vulnerable children throughout the world. It is again a pretty small line item in the grand scheme of things. Just to kind of put context into where we are. And then I want to get into the specifics of this UNICEF funding and just how outrageous it is. As I mentioned there's a 50, 50 vote that has happened in the Senate. Three Republicans have voted against Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins. And so that's why J.D. vance is coming to pass the tiebreaking vote. So this is a procedural vote that is, you know, that will bring this bill to the floor. So the vote on final passage will be tomorrow. Presumably it's 50, 50 now. It would pass again 50, 50 tomorrow. But before they do so there's what they call a vote, a rama where people have a chance to bring amendments up. There have been several Republican senators that have expressed lukewarm or even kind of quasi hostile views towards the bill. Mike Rounds that he didn't like parts of it. Out of South Dakota, Roger Wicker out of Mississ. Thom Tillis is in the middle of a little brouhaha with the President of the United States of North Carolina. So there are potential other Republican senators that could vote against it. They had already taken out the cuts to pepfar. A lot of Republicans have some pride about PEPFAR since it happened during the Bush administration. So that was good news. There had been additional cuts to PEPFAR that got removed from this package before final vote. There also were a few payoffs. Mike Grounds got some rural radio or something in South Dakota was going to be cut that got pulled out of the package. Among the cuts is the National Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS and npr, which are going to see real budget cuts, real losses as a result of this bill. Exactly what all the provisions are are still unclear even to the senators. Susan Collins put out this statement earlier today saying that she's not against rescissions in general. This is something that they've done before, but the way that they've done it has always been different. She writes, the sparse text that was sent to Congress included very little detail and does not give an accounting of the specific program cuts that would total the 9.4 billion. For example, there are 2.5 billion in cuts to development assistance account, which covers everything from basic education to water and sanitation to food security. But we don't know exactly how these programs will be affected. She goes on to talk about how she's forced some of the cuts against others. But this is a very rushed process and, and she opposes it. So circling back to what I mentioned at the top though, with unicef, so the funding is going to be cut here. I called it the general fund earlier. It's the technical term is it's called the Core Resources Fund. And so UNICEF has some earmarked funds for like specific projects or programs. But the core resources is, you know, this critical flexible funding that UNICEF can use to direct resources where they're needed in case of emergency, in cases, you know, where there is, you know, where there are various flare ups around the globe, it is absolutely critical funding. You know, they mentioned some of the direct programs that have been supported by this fund. In Bangladesh, it helped with children's nutritional outcomes contributing to a 40% reduction in stunting among children under five into the Republic of Congo health facilities for over 100,000 children. I could go on and on here. The point here is this is not like some deep state wasteful program. This is not like one of these, you know, silly things like we're funding, you know, that we're sending money, you know, to try out vegan home cooked meals in Gambia or anything like that. Like what UNICEF does is help the most vulnerable children throughout the world. The number of preventable deaths for children under five have been cut by more than 60% since 1990 thanks to the work that UNICEF has been doing for a pro life party, for an empathetic party, for a Christian party, for a human, any human being that cares about others throughout the world. This is just the tiniest part of the speck of the federal budget. And if we could use it to support an organization that is stopping the preventable deaths of just these little babies all around the world, who would be against that? Why would we be against that? It is absolutely insane that the Republicans would jam through on a party line vote that requires a tie breaking vote from the vice president, a rescission bill that would cut this tiny line item that goes to save dying kids around the world. We can't find the budget room for that. They just passed this bill, the one big beautiful bill the other week that spends 45 billion on prisons for immigrants, on detention centers for immigrants. We can come up with 45 billion for an archipelago of immigrant prisons. How do you square that? How can anybody square that within their values or their framework? Again, it'd be one thing if it's a small, if it's a state budget and you gotta balance it every year and you're like, we just can't afford making the charitable contribution this year. That's not what this is. These guys just passed a bill that's gonna increase the debt by trillions, trillions. They're not anywhere close to balancing the budget. They're jamming up all this money to hassle migrants, to create a new immigration police in this country to run up the debt and deficit. You're not balancing the budget. You're not getting anywhere close. You're not being fiscally responsible. This is just cruel. This is just like we're going to only cut the money for the people that don't have lobbyists, don't ever need to advocate for them. We're going to take the most vulnerable people throughout the world, little babies in other countries and we're going to cut their budget. We're not going to cut the spending on any of our friends, any of the organizations that lobby us. We're not going to do any of the hard cuts to the Defense Department or, you know, to the other organizations where, you know, pork and excess funds are being spent. We're not going to cut anything that's coming down any of our states. All we're going to do is pretend to be fiscal responsible. We're going to cut this tiny line item that would help 3 year olds in Bangladesh stay alive. I, I just, I don't. There's a chance to stop this. There's a chance to stop this. So that's the message I want to get across. Call your senators and I want to call out a couple of them in particular. If you're in Alabama, call Katie Britt. Katie Britt is supposed to be a reasonable Christian woman. You know, who cares? Not, not, you know, one of these sociopathic politicians. Katie Britt has a family. Katie Britt is pro life. Like, can you find that somewhere else in the budget? Can we deal with that in fiscal year 26? If you're in Mississippi, call Roger Wicker. He's already expressed concerns about this bill. He might be retiring soon. Maybe he can advocate for this. If you're in South Dakota, call my grounds. Actually, if you're a Republican or you're a Christian, call any of these people and make the case, but particularly if you're in their state. If you're in North Carolina, call Tom Tillis, call Tom Tellis and ask him to step up on this. If you're here in Louisiana, call Bill Cassidy. Bill Cassidy was a doctor. Bill Cassidy has treated the vulnerable. All right round call James Langford. If you're in Oklahoma, James Langford has demonstrated reasonableness in the past. Those are a couple ideas. Katie Britt, James Langford, Thom Tellis, Bill Cassidy, Mike Rounds. Do you really want to cut this tiny line item from an organization that is just doing the Lord's work, that is out there helping keep little kids alive? I don't think you do. There's a chance to stop it tomorrow. There's a chance to. You can still cut, you know, Big Bird and the other stuff that you want to cut woke NPR News. You know, but we can afford this, just like we could have afforded Pepfar. And I'm happy that Pepfar got put back in. We could afford unicef. We can feed little kids and we can prevent the spread of deadly diseases and AIDS in other countries. In other countries. That is something that America is capable of doing still, I hope, I hope so. Please call your senators and if this thing gets voted on tomorrow, call your congressman because it's a narrow majority in the House as well, and try to get this funding put back in because this is crazy and it's just like the moral dichotomy with what these guys passed and the OBBB versus to decide that we have enough money to jack up the debt by 2 trillion one week. And then two weeks later be Ooh. Please, please. Come on. Come on, guys. You can do this. All right. Subscribe to the feed. That's all I got for you. We'll be back here tomorrow talking some FBI talk, talking a little bit about what's going on in doj. I've got two great interviews coming for you, so subscribe to the feed. Stick around for that. Tell your friends. We'll see you soon. Peace.