House Republicans vote to claw back $9.4 billion in funding for foreign aid, NPR and PBS
The Republican-led House voted 214-212 on Thursday to pass a proposal from President Donald Trump to cancel $9.4 billion in previously approved federal funding.
The 'rescissions' package would claw back $8.3 billion for foreign aid and $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides funding to NPR and PBS. It is part of an effort by the White House to codify cuts proposed by the Department of Government Efficiency, which was helmed by tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Four House Republicans — Mark Amodei of Nevada, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Nicole Malliotakis of New York and Mike Turner of Ohio — voted with 208 Democrats to reject the measure. Some GOP members flipped their votes from 'no' to 'yes' toward the end after realizing it wouldn't pass otherwise.
Four Democrats and two Republicans missed the vote. Three Democratic-held seats are vacant because of lawmaker deaths.
Trump pushed Republicans to back the bill just ahead of the House vote, posting on social media, 'The Rescissions Bill is a NO BRAINER, and every single Republican in Congress should vote, 'YES.' MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!'
After the vote, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., called the package a start to restoring 'fiscal discipline' in Washington.
'Today's passage of this initial rescissions package marks a critical step towards a more responsible and transparent government, that puts the interests of the American taxpayers first,' Johnson told reporters. 'It's just one of the ways that Republicans are codifying DOGE findings and putting taxpayer dollars to better use.
'There will be more of this in the days to come,' he added.
The package now heads to the Senate, where it isn't subject to the 60-vote threshold, meaning Republicans can pass it along party lines.
Some Republicans, like Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, have voiced concerns about cuts to PEPFAR — the Bush-era program to combat HIV/AIDS that has been credited with saving millions of lives in Africa. And Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has said she opposes cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, noting that parts of her state rely on it to meet important needs.
'Not only would a large portion of Alaska communities lose their local programming, but warning systems for natural disasters, power outages, boil water advisories, and other alerts would be severely hampered,' Murkowski said. 'What may seem like a frivolous expense to some has proven to be an invaluable resource that saves lives in Alaska.'
Overall, the $9.4 billion in savings is a drop in the bucket compared to the $2.4 trillion in new deficits that Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act would create, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Republicans are pushing to pass the larger bill through the Senate by July 4.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., slammed the rescission package as 'reckless' and said it would 'undermine America's national security, hurt our ability to protect the American people.'
'Republicans want to rip billions of dollars away from America's efforts to keep her people safe and secure to satisfy some extreme ideological crusade related to a deeply unpopular effort formerly led by Elon Musk to devastate the American way of life,' Jeffries said before the vote.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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