In a significant — though largely symbolic — fiscal moment, Congress has officially passed a $9 billion rescissions package, sending the bill to President Donald Trump’s desk minutes after midnight Friday. The legislation, narrowly approved by the House in a 216–213 vote, marks the first successful use of the budgetary claw-back process in over two decades.
The bill blocks $8 billion in funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and slashes $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for the remainder of fiscal year 2025. Its passage represents a political win for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who has pushed to reassert congressional control over federal spending.
“This bill tonight is part of continuing that trend of getting spending under control,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) during the floor debate. “Does it answer all the problems? No. But $9 billion is a good start.”
The timing was critical. Had the bill not passed by Friday, the funds would have been re-obligated per law. With Trump’s signature, the rescinded dollars will now remain unspent.
Though relatively small in fiscal terms, the move is being interpreted as a test run for more aggressive cuts under a second Trump administration. It’s also notable as the first use of the rescissions tool since 1999. The process allows the White House to propose blocking previously approved congressional funds, which Congress then has 45 days to either approve or ignore. Unlike typical legislation, rescissions require only a simple majority in the Senate — lowering the threshold from 60 votes to 51, thus giving Republicans a tactical advantage.
Democrats fiercely opposed the package, accusing Republicans of gutting critical foreign aid and public broadcasting to appeal to the conservative base. “This is about punishing diplomacy, punishing education, and punishing facts,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.).
However, debate over the rescissions package was eclipsed at times by sudden and repeated references to the Jeffrey Epstein case.
In a calculated floor strategy, Democrats attempted to force Republican votes on releasing Epstein-related records, alleging a GOP double standard. “If every Republican votes to block our attempt to release the records, they are telling Epstein’s victims, you don’t matter,” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), who even led a chant of “release the files” on the House floor.
The move appeared designed to exploit internal GOP tensions, as far-right figures continue to demand full transparency on Epstein, while Trump has recently urged his base to move on after the Department of Justice signaled the case was closed.
Republicans ultimately blocked Democratic procedural efforts but negotiated a separate nonbinding resolution on Epstein transparency to move forward in parallel — a compromise to avoid derailing the rescissions package entirely.
Speaker Johnson defended the GOP strategy, saying, “Republicans have been taking the incoming criticism because they voted to stop the Democrats’ politicization of this. They’re trying to stick to their job.”
Majority Leader Scalise shot back at Democrats during the floor debate: “Interesting how they talk about Jeffrey Epstein… because for four years, Mr. Speaker, President Joe Biden had those files, and not a single Democrat that you’re hearing tonight tried to get those files released.”
