In a decisive move aligned with President Trump’s renewed push for fiscal accountability, the GOP-led House passed a $9.4 billion rescissions bill Thursday targeting foreign aid and public broadcasting expenditures that Republicans have long criticized as wasteful and ideologically skewed. The bill passed narrowly, 214–212, with all Democrats and four Republicans voting against it.
The legislation, introduced by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), was built on recommendations from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and follows a formal rescissions request submitted by the Trump administration last week. Under the Impoundment Control Act, such requests bypass the Senate filibuster and can be enacted with a simple majority in both chambers—making this a fast-moving legislative vehicle.
According to the bill’s provisions, the cuts break down as follows:
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$8.3 billion from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and State Department projects, including:
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The “Net Zero Cities” initiative in Mexico
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International “Sesame Street” broadcasts in Iraq
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Global LGBTQ+ initiatives
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$1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, directly impacting funding for NPR and PBS.
“President Trump promised to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government, and today House Republicans took a strong step in delivering on that promise,” said House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN).
Emmer and Scalise both touted the bill as a down payment on a broader effort to reshape federal spending priorities. The cuts are seen as the first installment of a larger fiscal reform strategy that includes trade tariffs and the upcoming “One Big, Beautiful Bill” for the 2026 appropriations cycle.
On the other side of the aisle, Democrats staged a performative protest, with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) bringing a stuffed Elmo doll to the floor and decrying what he framed as attacks on children’s programming.
They are “debating legislation that targets Elmo, Big Bird, and ‘Sesame Street,’” Jeffries lamented, arguing Republicans should be focused on affordability and economic relief.
Scalise fired back:
“Sesame Street is doing just fine. Netflix picked it up. What will go away is some of the far-Left, radical views that are being espoused—on the taxpayers’ dime.”
In a post on Truth Social just hours before the vote, President Trump enthusiastically backed the measure, calling it a “NO BRAINER” and urging Republicans to vote in favor to “claw back $9.4 BILLION DOLLARS in funding for wasteful Foreign Aid, used for Radical ‘DEI’ and the Green New SCAM, and the ‘Corporation for Public Broadcasting,’ which funds the highly biased NPR and PBS.”
Sources close to the White House and Capitol Hill suggest additional DOGE-directed cuts are on the horizon, with future packages likely to target climate and diversity initiatives embedded across the federal bureaucracy.
