Senate Passes $9 Billion Spending Cuts at Trump’s Request
WASHINGTON — The Senate voted early Thursday to approve President Trump’s proposal to claw back $9 billion in previously approved federal funding, targeting foreign aid programs and public broadcasting.
The 51–48 vote largely followed party lines, though Republican Senators Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) joined Democrats in opposing the measure. The House is expected to pass the package later this week, clearing the way for Trump to sign it into law.
About $8 billion of the cuts will come from foreign assistance programs, while $1.1 billion is aimed at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR, PBS, and many local stations.
Tensions Over Congressional Authority
The vote highlighted growing tension between Congress and the Trump administration over control of federal spending. While the Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse, Trump’s administration has increasingly sought to centralize budget decisions under the executive branch.
This marks one of the few times a formal rescissions bill — a request from the president to cancel previously appropriated funds — has succeeded. The last such package passed in 1999.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) called the vote a “small but important step toward fiscal sanity.” However, even some Republicans expressed discomfort over the lack of detail on which programs would lose funding and whether the White House might exceed its authority.
Impact on Foreign Aid and Public Media
To secure enough votes, GOP leaders removed proposed cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and shielded aid to Jordan, Egypt, and global food and health programs.
Still, the cuts to public broadcasting could significantly harm local stations that rely heavily on federal funds. While NPR and PBS receive only a small share of their budgets from the government, many smaller stations depend on it for more than half of their operating budgets.
Julie Overgaard of South Dakota Public Broadcasting warned the cuts could force stations to reduce or eliminate local programming: “We just don’t have a lot of fat to trim elsewhere.”
Democratic Objections
Democrats blasted the bill as a dangerous precedent, undermining bipartisan budget negotiations and eroding Congress’s constitutional authority. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) argued the package threatened the delicate balance that allows lawmakers to reach spending agreements and warned it could complicate talks to avert a government shutdown this fall.
“This is the first time bipartisan investments are being slashed through a partisan rescissions package,” Murray said.
What’s Next
The House is expected to vote later this week. If passed, the cuts would codify Trump’s earlier executive actions to freeze foreign aid and reduce public media funding.
While the measure is unlikely to completely cripple NPR or PBS, many rural and tribal broadcasters could face severe disruptions to programming and operations as soon as this fall.
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