President Donald Trump (R) signed a bill Thursday eliminating $9 billion worth of already approved federal spending, including $1.1 billion that was originally destined for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Last week, the House and Senate approved the multi-billion dollar rescission plan to cut federal spending put forward by the White House in early June.
A June 3rd thread on X posted by the OMB details a number of the initiatives that the White House sought to see defunded through this rescission package, including several LGBTQ-related programs in places like Uganda and the Western Balkans, as well as several million dollars worth of environmental programs throughout the world.
This post also highlights a proposed $4 million cut for legume systems research and $135 million for the World Health Organization.
One of the most talked about cuts included in the bill has been $1.1 billion previously allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the organization responsible for distributing funding to local public radio and television stations.
Federal funding for NPR and PBS also comes through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. According to the Washington Post, about 15 percent of PBS’ funding comes from the federal government, as well as around one percent of NPR’s funding.
Although some Republicans, including Maine’s Sen. Susan Collins (R) and Alaska’s Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R), raised concerns about the funding cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, President Trump strongly pushed back on the idea of eliminating these particular cuts from the rescission package.
“It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions Bill and, in particular, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN & MSDNC put together,” Trump said in a Truth Social post last week. “Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
The original package included cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), but this provision was removed before making it out of the Senate, bringing the total value of the cuts from $9.4 billion to $9 billion.
Because this diverged from the version of the package approved by the House, the amended bill was sent back to the lower chamber after being narrowly passed by the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said that there was “a lot of interest among our members” in seeing the PEPFAR cuts removed and reportedly expressed hope that the House would be receptive to this change.
As soon as the White House’s OMB submitted their rescission request to Congress, it started a 45-day clock for Congress to act.
With only a few hours remaining before the request lapsed, which would have left federal spending at its original levels, the House cast the final votes necessary to send the rescission package to the President’s desk.
On Thursday, President Trump finalized the rescission package with a signature, officially cancelling the previously approved federal spending.
