Reps. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) joined every other House Democrat on Thursday in opposing President Donald Trump’s rescission package that would have codified $9.4 billion in proposed cuts to foreign aid and public broadcasting.
[RELATED: Pingree Split with Golden and Votes Against Bill to Stop Non-Citizens from Voting in D.C. Elections…]
“I just voted against the president’s bill to clawback $9.4 billion in congressionally approved funding, which would have zeroed out funding for Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports PBS KIDS educational programming and life-saving emergency alerts at Maine Public,” said Rep. Golden on X.
A rescission package is a bill proposed by the President and sponsored by a member of Congress on his behalf, intended to cancel previously approved federal spending.
The current rescission package, HR 4, sponsored by Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) on President Trump’s behalf, would rescind funds from the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
The package would eliminate some of the wasteful spending identified by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Elon Musk.
The bulk of the funds, $8.3 billion, currently going toward foreign aid projects such as “international peacekeeping,” immigrant and refugee programs, funding for Europe, African development funds, USAID operating expenses, and a variety of other foreign spending programs from both USAID and the State Department.
Rep. Golden particularly objected to the ending of funding for AIDS relief through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
“This bill also would have gut the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a program founded by a Republican president with bipartisan support that has saved more than 25 million lives in an effort to stop the spread of AIDS,” said Golden.
He was also concerned that left-wing publicly funded news outlets, such as Maine Public, would lose funding. Maine Public broadcasts PBS and NPR content and actively calls on its readers and listeners to contact their representatives to urge them to oppose the rescission package.
Golden acknowledged that there are some elements that the bill cuts that he agrees with, but he was nevertheless willing to support cutting other spending to eliminate those aspects.
“I can’t support this bill, but there are undoubtedly State Dept. initiatives — including some included in this bill — where cuts are justified. This is the right way for the administration to seek these kinds of savings. So I remain open to better-targeted recission [sic] proposals,” said Golden.
The package passed through the House with a slim vote margin of 214-212 , with all Democrats opposing it and four Republicans breaking with their party to oppose the funding cuts.
Reps. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), and Mike Turner (R-Ohio) opposed the bill and drew scorn from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
“You can’t claim to be the party of fiscal responsibility and vote against the DOGE rescission package. This should be one of the least controversial things for Republicans to vote yes on,” said Sen. Paul on X.
The rescission package appears to have a fair chance in the Senate because, unlike most bills, rescission bills are immune to the filibuster, meaning that they only need a 51-vote majority, rather than a 60-vote majority to pass. Republicans currently hold a narrow 53-seat majority.
