What's in the Republican bill cutting $9 billion from public broadcasting and foreign aid
Trump's Republican administration is employing a rarely used tool that allows the president to transmit a request to cancel previously approved funding authority. Democrats are trying to kill the measure but need some Republicans uncomfortable with the president's effort to join them.
The Senate approved the vast majority of Trump's request in the early morning hours Thursday, 51-48. Another House vote is needed because senators changed the legislation. The House passed an earlier version of the bill on a mostly party line vote.
Here's a closer look at what's in the bill:
Trump has asked lawmakers to rescind nearly $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which represents the full amount it's due to receive during the next two budget years.
The White House says the public media system is politically biased and an unnecessary expense.
The corporation distributes more than 70% of the money to more than 1,500 locally operated public television and radio stations, with much of the remainder assigned to National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service to support national programming.
The potential fallout from the cuts for local public media stations has generated concerns on both sides of the political aisle.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said he secured a deal from the White House that some funding administered by the Interior Department would be repurposed to subsidize Native American public radio stations in about a dozen states.
But many lawmakers say that won't help a large number of local broadcasting stations. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., unsuccessfully sought to take out the public broadcasting cuts.
'If we don't adopt this amendment, local television and radio stations will shut down and it will be rural stations that will be the first to close,' Baldwin said.
To justify the spending cuts, the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers have cited certain activities they disagree with to portray a wide range of a program's funding as wasteful.
In recent testimony, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought criticized programming aimed at fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion. He said NPR aired a 2022 program entitled 'What 'Queer Ducks' can teach teenagers about sexuality in the animal kingdom.' He also cited a special town hall that CNN held in 2020 with 'Sesame Street' about combatting racism.
As part of the package, Trump asked lawmakers to rescind about $8.3 billion in foreign aid programs that aim to fight famine and disease and promote global stability.
A Senate amendment knocked the foreign aid cuts down to about $7.9 billion when Republicans agreed to remove what would have been a $400 million cut to PEPFAR, the politically popular program that began under President George W. Bush to combat HIV/AIDS. The program is credited with saving millions of lives.
Among the targets:
The Trump administration also said some cuts, such as eliminating funding for UNICEF, would encourage international organizations to be more efficient and seek contributions from other nations, 'putting American taxpayers first.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump's trade deals could push the average new car price well above $50,000
Markets have cheered President Trump's trade deals with Japan and the European Union. New 15% tariffs on most imported products from those countries are lower than many analysts expected, and they finally bring some predictability to Trump's chaotic on-and-off-and-on-again tariff policy. But import taxes are still going up, and past experience tells us that American consumers will ultimately bear most of the cost. Some of the most important imports from Europe and Japan are cars and car parts, and the higher taxes are sure to make all facets of owning a car costlier, just as drivers were hoping for a break from soaring prices. Trump is still working on trade deals with Canada, Mexico, and South Korea, other major sources of auto imports, and those outcomes will likely hike prices further. The average new car costs nearly $49,000, according to Kelley Blue Book. Trump's tariffs could raise costs by $3,000 or more once fully priced in, with costs rising less for cheaper models and more for luxury makes. It could take several months for those import taxes to work through supply chains, but unless there's a recession that ravages demand, car prices seem certain to hit new record highs during Trump's second presidential term. Read more: The latest news and updates on Trump's tariffs Ten years ago, the average car price was just $30,000. Several factors have pushed prices higher. Americans increasingly buy big pickups and SUVs, which cost more. Manufacturers struggle to make money on small economy cars and have been pulling them from their lineups. An explosion of digital gizmos adds to the cost, as does new automaker investments in electrification, which still isn't profitable industrywide. The COVID pandemic turbocharged auto inflation due to supply chain disruptions, parts shortages, stronger demand for non-urban transportation, and other factors. Costlier new cars increased demand for used cars, fueling inflation there, as well. More expensive parts and higher repair costs caused a surge in insurance premiums, which have doubled during the last 10 years. The charts below show the trends. Auto inflation has stabilized — but prices aren't coming down. They're basically stuck at new, higher levels. The only real break for drivers has been gasoline prices, down about 10% during the last year, to a national average of about $3.15 per have been first-line victims of Trump's tariffs. That means their customers will feel the pain too. General Motors (GM) and Jeep-parent Stellantis (STLA) both said tariffs harmed profitability in the second quarter. Ford (F) will probably echo that theme when it reports earnings on July 30. Automakers aren't just suffering from tariffs on imported parts, but also from Trump's new 50% tariff on most imported steel and aluminum, which are major components in cars. Most car prices haven't risen yet. The all-in cost of buying a car has actually dropped from peak levels of 2022, when the average cost of a new car equated to 42 weeks of work for the typical buyer, according to the Cox Automotive/Moody's Analytics affordability index, which accounts for prices, incomes, and interest rates. That's now down to about 37 weeks of work. But overall costs are still about 10% higher in real terms than they were from 2012 through 2021. And it's only a matter of time before automakers start passing higher tariff costs onto buyers. Some of the most popular cars in the US market are imports. The Subaru Impreza, Toyota (TM) Prius, and Mazda (7261.T) Miata come from Japan, as a few examples. Many Audis, BMWs ( and Mercedes ( come from Europe, along with the Volkswagen (VWAGY) Golf. Those imports will all come with the new 15% tax. Korean imports include the Hyundai ( Elantra, Kia Soul, and many other models from the two Korean manufacturers. They seem likely to face the same 15% import tax, since that is becoming the standard for Trump's trade deals. Read more: What Trump's tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet Mexico is the biggest source of automotive imports, supplying about 40% of all imported components, plus finished vehicles such as the Ford Maverick, Chevy Blazer, Mazda 3, and Nissan (NSANY) Sentra. Canada is another major source of vehicles such as the Chrysler Pacifica, Lexus RX 350, and many Honda (HMC) Civics. New Trump trade deals with Mexico and Canada seem further off, but in the meantime, he imposed a 25% tax on imported products from those countries that don't satisfy complex domestic-content requirements. All told, about 46% of the 16 million cars sold in the United States each year are imports, and almost all of the cheapest economy cars on the market are imports because carmakers generally can't afford to make them in America. Virtually all of those products will cost more because of the Trump tariffs. Earlier this year, when Trump was threatening 25% taxes on all imported cars, the Yale Budget Lab estimated such an across-the-board tariff would raise the cost of an average car by $6,400. That applied to all cars, whether imported or domestic, because price hikes in one major sector allow competitors to raise their prices too. If the across-the-board tariff is 15% instead of 25%, price hikes would obviously be less. Manufacturers might make adjustments and 'eat' some of the cost by accepting lower profits. But they can't eat all of the additional cost. Shareholders won't accept it, and with costs rising throughout the industry, all automakers will have pricing power, allowing them to charge more. Even if prices rise by less than under some other scenario, car buyers still have reason to expect lower prices from Trump, not higher ones. Trump ran for president last year, vowing to 'bring prices way down,' after three years of excessive inflation. Voters who went for Trump in 2024 said that was one of the main reasons they picked him. Yet earlier this year, Trump said he 'couldn't care less' if automakers raised prices to offset the cost of his tariffs. They're going to. Maybe it won't be by as much as analysts thought before, but that won't comfort buyers facing sticker shock anew at the dealership, service center, auto parts store, and insurance agency. Those Trump trade deals won't look so rosy once people start to pay for them. Rick Newman is a senior columnist for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Bluesky and X: @rickjnewman. Click here for political news related to business and money policies that will shape tomorrow's stock prices.
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Nancy Mace Reveals 1 Of Her ‘Favorite' Hobbies, And It's So Cruel People Think She's ‘Sick'
After spending her days terrorizing her colleagues and constituents, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) apparently likes to unwind by doing something that's so cartoonishly evil it sounds like something 'The Simpsons' would've written for Mr. Burns. On Sunday, Mace appeared on 'Fox Report Weekend' and shared one of her new 'favorite' hobbies with host Jon Scott. 'I have to tell you, one of my favorite things to watch on YouTube these days are the court hearings where illegals are in court, and ICE shows up to drag them out of court and deport them,' Mace said, presumably while stroking a white cat on her lap like a James Bond villain. Mace, unfortunately, continued, 'I can think of nothing more American today than keeping our streets safer by getting those violent criminals out of the United States of America, and we all have Donald J. Trump to thank for it.' Considering that the Trump administration's aggressive and inhumane deportation policies are unpopular with a majority of Americans, many users on X, formerly Twitter, were disgusted by Mace's remarks. A longer clip of Mace's appearance on 'Fox Report Weekend,' which was obtained by The Daily Beast, shows that Mace's Dr. Evil-esque comments were prompted by a graphic featured on Scott's show that read, 'Trump Crackdown in Sanctuary Cities.' The graphic seemed to indicate that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers in New York City have risen 400% since former President Joe Biden was in office. 'Clearly, there's a new sheriff in town,' Scott said. Mace agreed before adding the fun little tidbit that she's proposed a new bill to 'defund and take tax breaks' away from so-called sanctuary cities like New York. Trump and the Republican Party have long utilized racist rhetoric implying that all undocumented people are rapists and murderers. But recent data collected by the Deportation Data Project, a group that collects immigration numbers, indicates that about 30,000 people in immigration detention do not have a criminal record, NPR reports. Last week, HuffPost's Matt Shuham described what he saw over five days in immigration court in New York City this month. One of the more shocking quotes Shuham got during his time observing at the courthouse was from an unnamed federal agent involved with immigration court arrests. 'This is fishing in a stocked pool,' the agent told Shuham. 'You tell them, 'Show up at this location,' and then they show up and you grab them.' The agent also noted that special agents who deal with more complex crimes are being pulled off their assignments to do courthouse arrests. 'If you are a criminal,' the agent added, 'now is an easier time for you.' Related... I Watched 20 Arrests In Trump's America. Here's What They Looked Like. Nancy Mace Challenges Gavin Newsom To Debate So She Can 'Emasculate' Him Nancy Mace's 'Perverse' Migrant 'Dream' For Own State Gets Slammed Online
New York Post
21 minutes ago
- New York Post
Vance claims ‘Trump has nothing to hide' in Epstein case, says Obama, Bush ‘didn't fully investigate' serial perv
Vice President JD Vance was adamant Monday that President Trump 'has nothing to hide' with respect to notorious sex predator Jeffrey Epstein, while ripping into the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations for their handling of the case. 'The president has been very clear. We're not shielding anything,' Vance told reporters at an event in Canton, Ohio meant to promote the newly-enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 'The president has directed the attorney general to release all credible information and, frankly, to go and find additional credible information related to the Jeffrey Epstein case,' added the Ohio native. 'He's been incredibly transparent about that stuff. But some of that stuff takes time.' Advertisement Vance echoed other top officials in stressing the need to safeguard the names of victims in any additional disclosures about Epstein, who was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell Aug. 10, 2019, while awaiting federal trial on sex trafficking charges. 4 Vice President JD Vance insisted that President Trump has nothing to hide on the Epstein issue. POOL/AFP via Getty Images 4 Critics have alleged that the feds know significantly more about Jeffrey Epstein than what's been revealed. Advertisement Before ascending to public office, Vance suggested the government was not being transparent about the late pedophile or his purported network of associates. 'For 20 years, you had Obama and George W. Bush's Department of Justice go easy on this guy. They didn't fully investigate the case,' the 40-year-old charged Monday. 'They didn't show any curiosity about the case, and now Donald J. Trump is asking his Department of Justice to show full transparency.' 'If you want to criticize the people who aren't showing full transparency, you ought to go after the administrations that went easy on Jeffrey Epstein, the administrations that concealed this case for 20 years, and the administrations that failed to show full transparency.' 4 Jeffrey Epstein had been a fixture among American elites for decades. Getty Images Advertisement In 2007, then-Miami US Attorney Alex Acosta cut a deal with Epstein allowing him to plead guilty to Florida state charges of solicitation of prostitution and procuring a minor for prostitution. Under the plea agreement, Epstein was only confined for 13 months, spending much of that period on work release. Acosta was named Labor Secretary by Trump at the beginning of the president's first term, but resigned in July 2019, days after Epstein's arrest by federal investigators, amid an outcry over the plea deal. 'Donald J. Trump, I'm telling you, he's got nothing to hide,' Vance insisted. 'His administration has got nothing to hide, and that's why he's been an advocate for full transparency in this case.' 4 President Trump has ripped into the MAGA firestorm over Jeffrey Epstein but simultaneously called for transparency. Getty Images Advertisement Trump has faced a firestorm in the wake of a Justice Department and FBI memo issued July 6 — exactly six years after Epstein's last arrest — that concluded the 66-year-old killed himself in his prison cell and did not possess a 'client list' of powerful associates who are claimed to have engaged in sex with girls as young as 14, contrary to widespread speculation. The president has lashed out at some of his supporters for believing what he calls the 'Jeffrey Epstein hoax' and accused the Democrats of pushing bad-faith claims about the case. Last week, a Florida federal judge rejected a DOJ request to release transcripts of grand jury testimony from the investigation into Epstein that preceded the 2007 plea deal. Meanwhile, in Tallahassee, Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell sat for two days of interviews with Justice Department officials, led by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
