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The bill, approved in a narrow 214-212 vote, formalizes cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Of the total cuts, $8.3 billion will be stripped from USAID, and $1.1 billion will be withdrawn from CPB, which helps fund National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
The move follows a May executive order from Trump directing federal agencies to end taxpayer support for NPR and PBS, citing political bias and a failure to serve the public impartially.
Trump praised the legislation as a “no-brainer” and encouraged House Republicans to support the measure. “At the very least, Americans have the right to expect that if their tax dollars fund public broadcasting at all, they fund only fair, accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news coverage,” the executive order stated.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) hailed the package as a victory for taxpayers, calling it “a critical step toward a more responsible and transparent government.” In a joint statement with GOP leadership, Johnson said Republicans are fulfilling their mandate to eliminate unnecessary federal spending and restore efficiency to Washington.
The bill now moves to the Senate, where it requires only a simple majority to advance to President Trump’s desk.
Democrats fiercely opposed the cuts, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) accusing Republicans of targeting children’s programming. Jeffries held up an Elmo doll on the House floor as he denounced the bill as an “attack on children.”
Despite the rhetoric, Republicans pointed to multiple examples of questionable federal spending now being rolled back, including $3 million for an Iraqi version of Sesame Street, $6 million for “Net Zero Cities” in Mexico, and $2 million for foreign education programs on environmentally friendly reproductive decisions.
The rescissions package comes amid renewed pressure from fiscal conservatives to deliver real spending reductions. Though limited to discretionary spending, which accounts for about a quarter of the federal budget, the measure is part of a broader GOP strategy to reduce the deficit. Trump’s larger legislative agenda, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” proposes $1.25 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade.
Some moderate Republicans, including Reps. Mark Amodei (R-NV), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), and Mike Turner (R-OH), joined Democrats in voting against the measure. Two others initially voted no before flipping under pressure from GOP leadership.
The White House had previously come under fire for not acting swiftly to codify DOGE’s efforts. Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, a supporter of the reforms, had publicly criticized Congress for failing to cement the cuts into law. Thursday’s vote marks a concrete move to correct that delay.
During Trump’s first term, a similar rescissions package totaling $14.7 billion failed in the Senate. This time, with tighter control and momentum behind DOGE’s work, Republicans believe the cuts have a real chance of becoming permanent.
The Government Accountability Office noted that former Presidents Biden, Obama, and George W. Bush never pursued rescissions packages during their administrations. Trump, in contrast, has made federal spending cuts a centerpiece of his campaign to reform Washington and rein in bureaucratic waste.