Trump Celebrates as Congress Approves Landmark Spending Cuts

Happy Friday! President Donald Trump today signed into law a bill called the GENIUS Act, which introduces new regulations for stablecoins and is meant to shore up consumer confidence in cryptocurrency - an industry Trump and his administration have worked to boost even as the president has profited from his own crypto initiatives. "This signing is a massive validation of your hard work and your pioneering spirit," Trump told industry executives at a White House event. Here's what else is happening.

House Passes Trump's $9 Billion DOGE Cuts Bill

The House voted just after midnight on Friday to approve a $9 billion package of DOGE spending cuts.

The 216-213 vote claws back funding that Congress had previously provided for foreign aid and public broadcasting. It delivers a second major legislative win this month for President Donald Trump and marks the first time in more than three decades that lawmakers have agreed to a White House request to cancel approved appropriations.

The Senate had passed the spending cuts - including $7.9 billion in foreign aid and $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports NPR and PBS - shortly after 2 a.m. the previous night, so the House vote sent the bill to the White House, where Trump was set to sign it on Friday.

Trump takes a victory lap: The president hailed the vote, especially the cuts to NPR and PBS, in a post on his social media site. Republicans have criticized both public media outlets for what they say is a liberal bias and "woke" ideology. "HOUSE APPROVES NINE BILLION DOLLAR CUTS PACKAGE, INCLUDING ATROCIOUS NPR AND PUBLIC BROADCASTING, WHERE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS A YEAR WERE WASTED," Trump wrote in a post time-stamped 12:40 a.m. "REPUBLICANS HAVE TRIED DOING THIS FOR 40 YEARS, AND FAILED....BUT NO MORE. THIS IS BIG!!!"

Two Republicans, Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mike Turner of Ohio, joined with Democrats in voting against the bill. The vote was delayed as Republicans considered how to deal with an unrelated matter: pressure to respond to demand for information in the case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Republicans on the House Rules Committee ultimately adopted a nonbinding resolution ordering the release of the Epstein files. That resolution might not ever get a floor vote.

Public outcry over cuts to public media: The rescission package cuts fiscal 2026 and 2027 funding of $535 million a year for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The heads of both NPR and PBS emphasized polling that showed that Americans support and value public media and oppose eliminating all federal funding for it. NPR CEO Katherine Maher called the vote "an unwarranted dismantling of beloved local civic institutions, and an act of Congress that disregards the public will." She warned that the cuts would hurt vital local news coverage and harm parents and children, seniors and students, tribal and rural communities. "Despite promises from some Members of Congress to fix anything the bill breaks, this will be an irreversible loss," Maher said in a statement. "If a station doesn't survive this sudden turn by Congress, a vital stitch in our American fabric will be gone for good."

PBS CEO Paula Kerger similarly warned in a statement Thursday that the cuts "will be especially devastating to smaller stations and those serving large rural areas."

More rescissions coming: The White House and congressional Republicans have both said that more rescissions packages will follow.

"President Trump and House Republicans promised fiscal responsibility and government efficiency. Today, we're once again delivering on that promise," House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote in a post on X, adding, "This isn't the end, it's the beginning. We look forward to passing additional rescissions bills throughout the 119th Congress."

White House budget director Russell Vought told reporters that this package of cuts was intentionally small and was meant to restore the congressional "muscle memory" for the process of passing presidential rescissions under the 1974 Impoundment Control Act, which was last successfully accomplished in 1992, during the administration of President George H.W. Bush.

More than a few senators lamented the White House's approach to this rescissions package - and the broader state of the annual budgeting and appropriations process. Several complained in particular about the lack of detail about what programs would be cut in this rescissions package - and expressed concerns that the Trump administration was undercutting the congressional power of the purse.

Opponents of the bill warned that it would undermine bipartisanship in the annual appropriations process by allowing for spending deals that typically require 60 votes to pass the Senate to be undone by one party controlling the White House and a bare majority in the Senate.

GOP senators urged the White House to make sure that future rescissions requests include more details about what would be cut. "Let's not make a habit of this. Let's not consider this a precedent. But if you come back to us again, mister director of the OMB, if you come back to us again from the executive branch, give us the specific amounts and the specific programs that will be cut," Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi said on the Senate floor this week before voting to approve the current request.

Vought largely dismissed those criticisms. Vought on Thursday called for a more partisan appropriations process - and for federal spending decisions to be controlled more by the president. He also argued that the administration had provided a level of detail in line with previous rescissions packages. "People always want more detail," Vought reportedly said Thursday at an event hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. "We provided all the detail that was needed."

House Approves $831.5 Billion Defense Funding Bill

The House early Friday also approved an $831.5 billion defense spending bill for fiscal year 2026. That level of base funding is the same as enacted for the current fiscal year, though Republicans recently also provided an extra $150 billion for the Pentagon as part of their tax-and-spending package passed early this month.

The defense appropriations bill was approved in a 221-209 vote that saw five Democrats join with Republicans in support of the bill and three Republicans vote with most Democrats against it.

"We ensure our troops can deter, fight, and win," House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole said in a statement. "Strategic investments restore military strength, accelerate innovation, and reinforce peace through strength. The bill also bolsters U.S. industrial supply chains, delivers next-generation weapons and assets, and includes a well-earned pay raise for our troops."

The bill calls for a 3.8% basic pay raise for all military personnel. It also allocates about $13 billion for missile defense and space programs supporting President Trump's "Golden Dome" planned national missile shield. And it includes a number of controversial and divisive culture war policy riders, including prohibitions on funding for abortion-related travel, drag queen shows and Covid vaccine and mask mandates.

Democrats warned that the GOP bill could harm military preparedness and criticized the Republicans for failing to include $300 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. Democratic appropriators also complained that the White House had failed to submit a comprehensive budget request. "For the first time in modern history, the Defense Appropriations Act was written without the submission of the President's budget request - that makes this bill an incomplete product," Rep. Betty McCollum, the top Democrat on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, said in a statement.

What's next: The House bill still needs to be reconciled with the Senate's defense appropriations bill, but the Senate Appropriations Committee has not yet released its plan. Senate Republicans are reportedly planning to bring their first annual spending bills to the floor as soon as next week, but the annual appropriations process is far behind where it needs to be for lawmakers to have their work done by the start of the next fiscal year on October 1. Another stopgap funding bill is more than likely.

Cost of Obamacare Expected to Soar as Trump Policies Take Effect

Insurers who provide coverage through the federal exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act are seeking sharp increases in premiums next year, in part due to changes in policy enacted by President Trump and Republicans in Congress, according to a new analysis by the KFF, a healthcare foundation.

Initial data covering 105 insurers in 19 states and the District of Columbia indicate that rate hikes requested by Obamacare insurers average 15%, and more than a quarter of insurers are seeking increases of 20% or more. If enacted, they would be the largest increases since 2018, during the first Trump administration.

Insurance premiums go up just about every year, driven by the ever-rising cost of medical care. But in 2026, there are several other factors in play. Most significantly, enhanced tax credits for premiums created by the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 will expire at the end of 2025, and experts think that could increase out-of-pocket premium costs by 75% on average. As a result, some percentage of healthier participants will likely drop out of the program, producing a less healthy patient pool that will drive up costs. Analysts estimate that the expiration of enhanced tax credits will increase rates by about 4%.

Additionally, Trump's higher tariffs - he has threatened to impose a 200% levy on drug imports, for example - can be expected to increase the cost of healthcare next year. Analysts estimate that the threat of higher tariffs, which could push up prices for all kinds of medical products, is responsible for a 3% increase in premiums.

Another factor is a new "Marketplace Integrity and Affordability Final Rule" issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The rule creates new, stricter standards for marketplace participants, and is expected to reduce enrollment. The rule was issued just last month, though, so it's not yet clear how it might affect premiums, though it has already amplified overall uncertainty.

The politics of healthcare: The enhanced premium tax credits, signed into law by former President Joe Biden, helped push participation to record levels, with about 24 million people receiving health coverage through the ACA this year. Democrats extended the enhanced premiums, which were originally intended to boost coverage during the Covid-19 pandemic, and had hoped to make them permanent. But Republicans refused to include another extension in their "big beautiful bill" Trump signed into law earlier this month. A permanent extension would cost about $335 billion over 10 years, according to an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office.

Julie Appleby of KFF Health News said the expiration of the more generous subsidies could come as a shock to millions of current Obamacare participants. "Most enrollees will be on the hook to pay a larger share of their premiums as assistance from federal tax credits declines," she wrote Friday. "Secondly, people whose household income exceeds four times the federal poverty level - $84,600 for a couple or $128,600 for a family of four this year - won't get any subsidies at all."

Policyholders will learn just how big the increases in premiums are later this year, with the enrollment period for 2026 starting on November 1.

Fiscal News Roundup

• House Passes Trump's Request to Rescind Foreign Aid, Public Media Funding After Epstein Fallout Delays Vote - CBS News
• Congress Rolls Back $9 Billion in Public Media Funding and Foreign Aid - NPR
• Russ Vought Is Making DOGE Dreams Come True - Axios
• Most Think GOP Tax Bill Will Help Wealthy, Harm the Poor: Survey - The Hill
• Hill Republicans Brace for Another Grueling Fight Over Trump's Spending Cuts - Politico
• House Republicans Tiptoe Toward Tariff Criticism - Politico
• Trump Aims Tariff Double Whammy at Industries, Nations by Aug. 1 - Bloomberg
• Donald Trump Pushes for 15%-20% Minimum Tariff on All EU Goods - Financial Times
• ACA Insurers Propose Biggest Premium Hikes Since 2018 as Trump Policies Take Hold - CNN
• White House Official: $2B for Alcatraz Renovations 'Sounds Excessive' - The Hill
• Trump's Latest Executive Order Creates New Classification of Federal Employees - The Hill
• Murray Slows Education Nominee Amid Funding Feud With White House - Politico
• Federal Reserve's Waller Says Central Bank Should Cut Rates at Next Meeting - Associated Press
• US Consumer Sentiment Rises as Inflation Expectations Improve - Bloomberg
• Kansas City Poured Millions Into a Grocery Store. It Still May Close - Washington Post

Views and Analysis

• Conservatives Get the PBS and NPR Cuts They've Wanted for Decades - Jim Rutenberg, New York Times
• Don't Make a Dumb Trade War Any Dumber - Bloomberg Editorial Board
• America's Misguided Trade Panic Long Predates Trump - Eduardo Porter, Washington Post
• Senate Republicans Just Made a Shutdown Much More Likely - Hayes Brown, MSNBC
• On the Fast Track Toward a Government Shutdown - Joe Perticone, The Bulwark
• Trump Team Sabotaged Fed Renovation as Trump Started War With Powell - Malcolm Ferguson, New Republic
• Republicans' Surprise Gambling Tax Rolls the Dice on Young Men - Erika D. Smith, Bloomberg
• HHS Under Kennedy Might Be Moving to Undercut Lifesaving Preventive Care - Karen Tumulty, Washington Post
• The State Department Upheaval Makes China Great Again - Andreas Kluth, Bloomberg