House Republicans on Thursday narrowly passed a White House request to claw back $9.4 billion in approved funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting. The 214-212 vote saw four Republicans join with Democrats in opposing the legislation, which now heads to the Senate. Two Republicans who initially voted against the bill, Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska and Nick LaLota of New York, flipped to yes to provide the margin of victory for the GOP.
The vote is a win for President Donald Trump, who pressed lawmakers to pass the so-called rescissions package. In a post on social media, Trump blasted NPR and PBS as radical and biased against the Republican Party. He claimed that the recissions, along with his budget reconciliation bill, tariffs, mass deportations and a strong economy “will finally CUT the Deficit, and help balance our Budget.”
The bill would claw back $8.3 billion in foreign aid and $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS. Other rescission requests may follow, but the $9.4 billion total for this package represents just a small fraction of the roughly $1.8 trillion in discretionary outlays by the federal government in 2024 — or the estimated $2.4 trillion that the Republican reconciliation bill would add to deficits over 10 years.
The package could still face changes in the Senate, where it is expected to be taken up next month ahead of a July 18 expiration date for the rescissions request.