July 18 (UPI) — The U.S. House of Representatives early Friday passed President Donald Trump’s bill to rescind some $9 billion in foreign aid and public broadcasting funds.
The bill passed the House in a 216-213 vote held just after midnight. Two Republicans — Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Michael Turner of Ohio — crossed the aisle to join their Democratic colleagues in voting against the measure.
The bill now goes to the president’s desk for his signature.
“President Trump and House Republicans promised fiscal responsibility and government efficiency. Today, we’re once again delivering on that promise,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement following the vote.
The House vote comes a day after the Senate passed the bill, also mostly along party lines.
Once signed into law by Trump, the bill will cut about $8 billion from foreign aid programs and about $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds local news and radio infrastructure, including NPR and PBS, though only a small portion of their budgets are covered by federal funds.
Both government-funded media and foreign aid have been targets of the Trump administration and Republicans who have come to characterize both as so-called liberal agendas.
“The woke and weaponized NPR, PBS and USAID have been ELIMINATED,” Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., said on X following the vote.
“Promises made, promises kept.”
Trump has been seeking to shrink the government and curb wasteful spending, and he has taken to attacking the Corporation for Public Broadcasting over its connections to NPR and PBS, which he has accused of being biased media.
Democrats have protested the cuts on the grounds that doing so hurts the United States’ soft power while reducing funds for nonpartisan media especially hurts those in rural areas.
The vote also comes after the Trump administration was able to pass its massive tax and spending cuts bill last month, which is projected to add trillions to the deficient. While the Congressional Budget Office said Trump’s bill would add $3.3 trillion to the deficit, the Cato Institute states it could be as much as $6 trillion.
Trump was able to have the bill passed by a divide Congress despite not only Democrats but some Republicans voicing criticism over the programs it cuts and tax cuts it gives to the wealthy, while adding to the deficit.
The $9 billion clawed back early Friday will have little impact on lowering the deficit.
“This package eliminates $9 billion in unnecessary and wasteful spending at the State Department, USAID and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The American people will no longer be forced to fund politically biased media and more than $8 billion in outrageous expenses overseas.”
