‘Taking Back Control’: Senate Votes To Claw Back $9B From Foreign Aid, Public Broadcasting

The GOP-led Senate narrowly passed a $9 billion rescissions package early on Thursday morning that seeks to eliminate “waste, fraud, and abuse” identified by the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative.

Senators voted 51-48 in favor of the measure, which aims to claw back funds allocated to foreign aid projects and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a funding source for NPR and PBS programs that many Republicans deem wasteful and ideologically driven. Now the rescissions package heads back to the House, which has only until Friday to pass it.

“This isn’t just about saving money. It’s about taking back control,” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), who spearheaded the effort to pass the package, said on X. “It’s time to remind the NGOs, the foreign lobbyists and their friends in the media that America is not a tax farm for global leftism. We’re a sovereign nation — and it’s time to start acting like one again.”

Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME) broke ranks and voted against the package along with Democrats and independents. They raised concerns about how defunding public broadcasting could diminish helpful services to Americans and lamented the lack of clarity on the Trump administration’s plan to implement the cuts.

“The rescissions package has a big problem – nobody really knows what program reductions are in it,” Collins said in a statement on Tuesday evening. She added later, “To carry out our Constitutional responsibility, we should know exactly what programs are affected and the consequences of rescissions.”

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who had joined Murkowski and Collins in voting against advancing the rescissions package on Tuesday, ultimately supported it. Passage came after the Senate worked through a lengthy “vote-a-rama” that included a flurry of amendments, mostly from Democrats.

The sole lawmaker to miss the final vote series was Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN). Her office said the Democrat would be staying overnight at George Washington University Hospital after she began to feel unwell at the Capitol.

Next, the rescissions package heads back to the House, which had already passed a $9.4 billion measure in mid-June. The lower chamber must vote again on the package after the Senate Republicans opted to pull $400 million in cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program.

The White House reportedly gave its blessing to remove the part of the package that defunded PEPFAR, as some members had voiced dismay with that part of the proposal.

Under the Impoundment Control Act, Congress was given 45 days to act on the Trump administration’s rescissions request in early June, and it requires only a simple majority in the House and Senate, meaning the filibuster threshold can be ignored.

Both chambers of Congress must pass a single version of the package by Friday, the deadline.

The Office of Management and Budget said that its rescissions wishlist included getting rid of $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which Trump singled out in a executive order seeking to defund NPR and PBS amid claims they were biased, as well as money for various foreign aid programs such as “net zero cities” in Mexico, Iraqi “Sesame Street,” and global LGBTQ+ initiatives.

While sources on Capitol Hill and the White House have said they expect more requests to implement so-called DOGE cuts to follow, that is assuming the first package manages to pass through Congress.

Trump has warned GOP lawmakers that there will be political consequences for opposing the effort.

“It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions [sic] Bill and, in particular, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN & MSDNC put together,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social last week. “Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”