OAN Staff Blake Wolf
11:12 AM – Thursday, July 17, 2025
Senate Republicans passed President Donald Trump’s $9 billion rescissions bill aimed at slashing foreign aid programs and left-leaning public broadcasting stations.
The package of spending cuts was able to pass through the Senate by a vote of 51-48.
However, GOP Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) voted alongside Senate Democrats in opposing the measure.
Of the total $9 billion in cuts, $8 billion of it will cut foreign assistance programs facilitated by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), with the remaining $1.1 billion in funding cuts to NPR and PBS. Both networks have been rated left-leaning politically by the AllSides Bias Meter.
The passage of the recissions package marks the first of its kind in decades, largely stemming from efforts related to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“What we are talking about is one-tenth of one percent of all federal spending … but it’s a step in the right direction and it’s the first time we have done anything like this in 35 years,” stated Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.). “It’s a small but important step toward fiscal sanity that we all should be able to agree is long overdue.”
The Senate did, however, cut around $400 million out of the House’s version, allowing the Bush-era HIV and AIDS global prevention program to remain intact.
Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance celebrated the Senate’s passage of the legislation in an X post on Thursday, writing: “Border crossings at their lowest levels in history last week and NPR defunded. Two big wins!”
During the 12-hour amendment voting marathon, GOP Senators Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Collins, and Murkowski, joined Democrats in attempting to reverse certain proposed cuts — such as global health funds, public broadcasting, and international disasters. However, McConnell later voted alongside Republicans.
Additionally, despite the attempts to repeal spending cuts, the GOP defectors ultimately failed, as they required more Republican votes.
Murkowski, in particular, reportedly attempted to restore the majority of the funds stripped away from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is the organization that funds both PBS and NPR.
Despite reservations from Democrats and certain GOP members, Republican Senator Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) asserted that the Trump rescissions package is necessary to “course-correct” government waste. Schmitt went on to argue that the Democrats want to “keep as much of this money for their woke pet projects as they can.”
“They were able to do that for four years,” he added. “That’s how you got to, you know, DEIs in Burma and Guatemalan sex changes and voter ID in Haiti, which is ironic, because Democrats don’t support voter ID here, but they’re willing to pay for it in another country.”
The legislation now returns to the House, where a vote is anticipated on Thursday evening ahead of Friday’s deadline.
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