Congress approves President Trump’s $9 billion cut to public broadcasting and foreign aid

WASHINGTON AP The House gave final approval to President Donald Trump s request to claw back about billion for residents broadcasting and foreign aid early Friday as Republicans intensified their efforts to target institutions and programs they view as bloated or out of step with their agenda The vote marked the first time in decades that a president has successfully submitted such a rescissions request to Congress and the White House suggested it won t be the last Particular Republicans were uncomfortable with the cuts yet supported them anyway wary of traversing Trump or upsetting his agenda The House passed the bill by a vote of - It now goes to Trump for his signature We need to get back to fiscal sanity and this is an pivotal step announced House Speaker Mike Johnson R-La Opponents voiced concerns not only about the programs targeted but about Congress ceding its spending powers to the executive branch as investments approved on a bipartisan basis were being subsequently canceled on party-line votes They explained previous rescission efforts had at least selected bipartisan buy-in and described the Republican package as unprecedented No Democrats supported the measure when it passed the Senate - in the early morning hours Thursday Final passage in the House was delayed for several hours as Republicans wrestled with their response to Democrats push for a vote on the release of Jeffrey Epstein files The package cancels about billion for the Corporation for Masses Broadcasting and nearly billion for a variety of foreign aid programs multiple designed to help countries where drought condition and political unrest endure The effort to claw back a sliver of federal spending came just weeks after Republicans also muscled through Trump s tax and spending cut bill without any Democratic endorsement The Congressional Budget Office has projected that measure will increase the U S debt by about trillion over the coming decade No one is buying the the notion that Republicans are veritably trying to improve wasteful spending declared Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries A heavy blow to the Corporation for General Broadcasting The cancellation of billion for the CPB represents the full amount it is due to receive during the next two budget years The White House says the constituents media system is politically biased and an unnecessary expense The corporation distributes more than two-thirds of the money to more than locally operated society television and radio stations with much of the remainder assigned to National General Radio and the Community Broadcasting Amenity to help national offerings Democrats were unsuccessful in restoring the funding in the Senate Lawmakers with large rural constituencies voiced particular concern about what the cuts to constituents broadcasting could mean for particular local constituents stations in their state Sen Lisa Murkowski R-Alaska reported the stations are not just your news it is your tsunami alert it is your landslide alert it is your volcano alert As the Senate debated the bill Tuesday a magnitude earthquake struck off the remote Alaska Peninsula triggering tsunami warnings on local citizens broadcasting stations that advised people to get to higher ground Sen Mike Rounds R-S D declared he secured a deal from the White House that specific money administered by the Interior Department would be repurposed to subsidize Native American citizens radio stations in about a dozen states But Kate Riley president and CEO of America s Population Television Stations a infrastructure of locally owned and operated stations announced that deal was at best a short-term half-measure that will still outcome in cuts and reduced amenity at the stations it purports to save Inside the cuts to foreign aid Among the foreign aid cuts are million for a scheme that provides urgency shelter water and family reunification for refugees and million to provide food water and soundness care for countries hit by natural disasters and conflicts There also is a billion cut for programs that aim to boost economies and democratic institutions in evolving nations Democrats argued that the Republican administration s animus toward foreign aid programs would hurt America s standing in the world and create a vacuum for China to fill This is not an America first bill It s a China first bill because of the void that s being created all across the world Jeffries reported The White House argued that plenty of of the cuts would incentivize other nations to step up and do more to respond to humanitarian crises and that the rescissions best served the American taxpayer The money that we re clawing back in this rescissions package is the people s money We ought not to forget that explained Rep Virginia Foxx R-N C chair of the House Rules Committee After objections from several Republicans Senate GOP leaders took out a million cut to PEPFAR a politically popular effort to combat HIV AIDS that is credited with saving millions of lives since its creation under Republican President George W Bush Looking ahead to future spending fights Democrats say the bill upends a legislative process that typically requires lawmakers from both parties to work together to fund the nation s priorities Triggered by the official rescissions request from the White House the bill only needed a simple majority vote to advance in the Senate instead of the votes usually required to break a filibuster That meant Republicans could use their - majority to pass it along party lines Two Republican senators Murkowski and Sen Susan Collins of Maine joined with Democrats in voting against the bill though a sparse other Republicans also raised concerns about the process Let s not make a habit of this stated Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippi who voted for the bill but mentioned he was wary that the White House wasn t providing enough information on what exactly will be cut Russ Vought the director of the Office of Management and Budget explained the imminent triumphant passage of the rescissions shows enthusiasm for getting the nation s fiscal situation under control We re happy to go to great lengths to get this thing done he stated during a breakfast with reporters hosted by the Christian Science Monitor In response to questions about the relatively small size of the cuts billion Vought stated that was because I knew it would be hard to pass in Congress Vought reported another rescissions package is likely to come soon