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4w ago

Cornyn Lets Lake and Mastriano Advance After State Dept. PEPFAR Assurances

He used his deciding committee vote to win commitments that congressionally appropriated AIDS relief funds will be obligated, leaving him to monitor whether the State Department follows through.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn at a Senate Committee on the Judiciary business meeting in the Hart Senate office building in Washington on June 18, 2026.
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Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. 
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Overview

  • The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted along party lines to advance Kari Lake and Doug Mastriano to the full Senate after Cornyn said the State Department gave him assurances on PEPFAR funding.
  • Cornyn had publicly threatened to withhold committee support on Tuesday unless roughly $1.3 billion was released immediately and officials detailed how about $10 billion in recent appropriations would be spent.
  • Cornyn’s office says the State Department provided written spending plans for 2025 and 2026 and pledged to obligate funds that expire in September as quickly as possible with notice to Congress.
  • The nominations now head to the full Senate for floor votes, but some Republicans and all Democrats have already signaled resistance, so confirmation is not guaranteed.
  • PEPFAR is a long‑running bipartisan AIDS program that reporting shows faced pauses, grant delays and program cuts under the current administration, which aid groups say has already forced clinic closures and staff layoffs in affected countries.