The House on Thursday narrowly voted to cut $9.4 billion in foreign aid and public broadcasting funding after a minor revolt from a handful of moderate Republicans.
The move to codify the first Department of Government Efficiency savings came nearly three months after Congress passed a stopgap bill to continue federal spending that the Trump administration’s cost-cutting group was trying to pare back.
The amount is a small fraction of the $1.6 trillion in annual discretionary spending lawmakers previously approved, but it represents the first codified victory for President Trump and DOGE’s effect to root out waste, fraud and abuse across the federal government.
The House voted 214-212 to pass the $9.4 billion rescissions package, with four Republicans joining all Democrats in opposition.
Rep. Nick LaLota, New York Republican, had originally cast a “no” vote, but after some arm-twisting from GOP leaders, he changed his vote to “yes.”
The measure cuts $8.3 billion from various foreign aid accounts and $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a nonprofit that helps fund public media such as NPR, PBS and their local affiliates.
A handful of House Republicans expressed concern about the broadcasting cuts’ impact on local media outlets, particularly those in rural areas where public TV or radio stations are often the only news outlets.
“I’m looking for something that acknowledges that local stations are important,” Rep. Mark Amodei, Nevada Republican, said earlier this week as he contemplated whether to oppose the package.
Ultimately, Mr. Amodei voted “no.”
The White House has said the broadcasting cuts would eliminate most federal funding for public media, except for a fund that is used to send out Amber alerts, tornado warnings and other emergency notifications.
The $1.1 billion cut in the rescissions package would claw back advanced CPB funding for fiscal 2026 and 2027. Mr. Amodei said 70% of that funding would go to local TV stations. Eliminating that funding would require the local affiliates to raise money to make up the gap, which he said they couldn’t do as easily as the national outlets.
The rescissions package now heads to the Senate, where the broadcasting cuts are vexing a few GOP senators.
“It’s a bifurcated concern,” Alaska GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan told The Washington Times. “In states like mine, our rural radio stations play a really important role. So, how do you address that, while I am very unsympathetic to the program that comes out of National Public Radio? I’ve been telling those guys for years, it’s very left-wing, it’s very biased, and the government shouldn’t be subsidizing and funding left-wing media.”
Mr. Sullivan said he and other senators with similar concerns are exploring ways to ensure local public media affiliates in rural areas – “which play a role in terms of safety and a whole host of things, especially a state like mine that has 250 communities that don’t even have roads that connect them” – are protected from funding cuts that could impact their operations.
Republicans have been far more supportive of the $8.3 billion in cuts to foreign aid accounts, although some have questioned the need for a $400 million clawback from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR.
PEPFAR was created during the George W. Bush administration to combat HIV/AIDS around the world.
Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins, Maine Republican, has said PEPFAR has been “extremely successful” in preventing the spread of AIDS and that she wants to remove any cuts to the program from the rescissions package.
The White House calmed concerns from several House Republicans over PEPFAR by noting the $400 million cut is a small portion of the program’s $6 billion fiscal 2025 budget and that the reductions would not impact medical treatments and preventions.
The Trump administration argues there has been wasteful spending in PEPFAR, citing $5.1 million to strengthen the “resilience of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer global movements,” $3 million for circumcision, vasectomies and condoms in Zambia, and $833,000 for services for “transgender people, sex workers and their clients and sexual networks” in Nepal.
• Kerry Picket contributed to this report.
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.