US Senate Approves $9B Aid Amid Broadcasting Cuts: Trump Wins

• The Senate votes 51-48 in favor of Trump’s request to reduce spending.
• Cuts to public broadcasting could leave rural areas in the US without news coverage.
• Four Republicans teamed up with 208 Democrats to oppose the spending reductions.
  

WASHINGTON: Early Thursday morning, the US Senate approved President Donald Trump’s initiative to slash billions in funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting, marking another win for the Republican president as he consolidates power in Congress with minimal pushback.

The Senate voted 51-48 to support Trump’s request to cut $9 billion from spending previously sanctioned by Congress.

The majority of these cuts impact programs designed to assist foreign nations grappling with disease, conflict, and natural disasters. Additionally, it includes the complete elimination of the $1.1 billion allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting over the upcoming two years.

Trump and many Republican supporters assert that public broadcasting funding is a superfluous cost and criticize its news coverage for being biased against conservatives.

Standalone rescission bills have not been approved in decades, as lawmakers are typically reluctant to relinquish their constitutionally mandated control over spending. However, since Trump began his second term in January, his Republican allies in both the Senate and House have shown little resistance to his policies.

The proposed $9 billion cuts are minuscule compared to the $6.8 trillion federal budget, representing a minute fraction of the total funds Congress has approved that the Trump administration has sought to freeze amidst extensive cuts, many directed by billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

As of mid-June, Trump was withholding $425 billion in appropriated funding, according to Democratic legislators monitoring the stalled allocations.

Nonetheless, Trump and his backers have promised more “rescission” requests aimed at eliminating previously authorized spending as part of their strategy to downsize the federal government.

Last month, the House of Representatives passed the rescissions bill in accordance with Trump’s request by a narrow margin of 214-212, with four Republicans joining the Democrats in opposition.

However, after some Republican senators expressed concerns about the severity of cuts to global health initiatives, Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, announced on Tuesday that PEPFAR, a global program combatting HIV/AIDS established in 2003 by President George W. Bush, would be exempted from cuts.

This adjustment reduced the cuts total from $9.4 billion to $9 billion, necessitating another vote in the House before the measure is sent to the White House for Trump’s signature.

The rescission requests must finalize by Friday; otherwise, the proposals will lapse, and the White House will be obliged to follow Congress’s approved spending plans.

Discontent Among Republicans

Two of the Senate’s 53 Republicans—Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine—voted against the legislation alongside the Democrats.

“There’s no need to dismantle the entire Corporation for Public Broadcasting,” Murkowski stated during her remarks in the Senate.

She expressed concerns that the Trump administration hadn’t ensured that global battles against diseases like malaria and polio would continue. Primarily, Murkowski emphasized the importance of Congress asserting its authority in determining federal spending.

Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota referred to Trump’s request as a “small but crucial step towards fiscal responsibility.”

Democrats dismissed this assertion, noting that earlier this month, congressional Republicans passed a substantial tax and spending bill that nonpartisan analysts estimated would increase the nation’s $36.2 trillion debt by more than $3 trillion.

Democrats criticized their Republican colleagues for yielding Congress’s Constitutionally mandated control over federal spending.

“Today, Senate Republicans are turning this chamber into a compliant rubber stamp for the executive branch under Donald Trump’s influence,” remarked Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

“Republicans are adopting a philosophy of cut, cut, cut now, and ask questions later,” Schumer added.

The proposed cuts would overturn bipartisan spending agreements most recently established in a full-year continuing resolution passed in March. Democrats caution that a partisan reduction now could complicate negotiations for essential government funding bills that require bipartisan support by September 30 to avert a shutdown.

While appropriations bills typically require 60 votes to proceed in the Senate, this rescissions package only needs 51 votes, enabling Republicans to pass it without Democratic backing.