House GOP schedules vote for Trump rescissions package

House Republican leadership said Tuesday evening in a joint statement they officially received the Trump’s administration’s request for $9.4 billion worth of rescissions and plan to bring the package to the floor next week.

“Today, the House has officially received the rescissions request from the White House to eliminate $9.4 billion in wasteful foreign aid spending at the State Department and USAID and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS,” said Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota, and Chairwoman Lisa McClain of Michigan.

The GOP lawmakers said that “now that this wasteful spending by the federal government has been identified by DOGE, quantified by the Administration, and sent to Congress, House Republicans will fulfill our mandate and continue codifying into law a more efficient federal government. This is exactly what the American people deserve.”

The Department of Government Efficiency identified the cuts, which consist of $8.3 billion from foreign aid and $1.1 billion from NPR and PBS, which are funded through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The clawback would virtually eliminate taxpayer support for the CPB, except for services such as Amber alerts and tornado warnings.

Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, protested the cuts in a statement Tuesday, saying “federal funding for the public broadcasting system is irreplaceable. 

“Public media serves all – families and individuals, in rural and urban communities – free of charge and commercial free. American taxpayers rely upon and trust public media for high quality educational content, information, and life-saving alerts,” she said.

“CPB is firmly committed to ensuring that funding for public media provides local communities with accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news and information, and we take seriously concerns about bias that have been raised,” she added. “CPB looks forward to working with policymakers, stakeholders, and the American public to maintain funding and strengthen the public trust.”

The package would cancel spending previously approved by Congress. 

With Elon Musk’s exit, President Trump vowed that DOGE would continue to downsize the federal bureaucracy by identifying wasteful and fraudulent spending for proposed elimination.

Democrats say the cuts would wipe out valuable services and harm Americans and U.S. interests abroad. They say slashing CPB funding was an attack on free speech.

“Donald Trump and House Republicans promised to lower the cost of living on day one, but have instead spent their time illegally stealing taxpayer money in order to enact massive tax breaks for their billionaire donors,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement.

“The reckless rescissions package introduced today is only the latest attempt by the Trump administration to attack the free press, decimate lifesaving humanitarian aid and hurt our national security,” he said.

Mr. Jeffries promised that House Democrats will “aggressively push back on the continued chaos, cruelty and corruption of this administration and on the far-right extremism being unleashed on the American people.”

Conservatives, however, have long railed against the liberal bias of the taxpayer-supported NPR and PBS, as well as foreign aid programs that they say push woke policies.

The White House’s formal transmission of the rescissions package to Congress now triggers a 45-day clock for lawmakers to either adopt or reject the package.

The White House is confident it will pass both chambers, as such a package only requires a simple majority vote in the Senate to be enacted.