Trump's cuts to NPR, PBS and foreign aid clear Congress

WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled House voted 216-213 to springiness last transition to a measure cutting $9 cardinal successful spending that had already been approved, sending it to President Donald Trump to go law.

The cuts aimed astatine nationalist media and overseas assistance passed successful different middle-of-the-night ballot connected Capitol Hill, 1 time aft the Senate voted 51-48 after 2 a.m. Thursday to o.k. the measure. Two Republicans joined each Democrats successful opposing the bundle successful the House: Reps. Mike Turner of Ohio and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.

The measurement cuts $1.1 cardinal from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides backing for NPR and PBS. It cuts $8 cardinal much from overseas aid, including to the U.S. Agency for International Development and programs to beforehand planetary wellness and exile assistance. But planned cuts to PEPFAR were removed from the package in caller days, leaving backing for the fashionable Bush-era overseas assistance programme to combat HIV/AIDS intact.

The package, which was requested by the White House, passed some chambers with lone Republican votes done a seldom utilized "rescissions" process that tin bypass the 60-vote threshold successful the Senate. GOP leaders touted it arsenic a bid to slash "woke and wasteful" spending by the government.

"This measure contiguous is portion of continuing that inclination of getting spending nether control. Does it reply each the problems? No. Nine cardinal dollars, I would say, is simply a bully start, and hopefully we bash much things similar this," said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.

Democrats unified to reason the package, slamming the cuts arsenic cruel, detrimental to American enactment and a cynical effort by the GOP to look fiscally liable after it added $3.3 trillion to the debt in its party-line megabill that passed Congress this month.

Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, said successful a connection that the measure would person "profound, lasting, antagonistic consequences for each American."

"For astir six decades, nationalist media has served families successful each country of America, particularly agrarian and tribal communities, providing bonzer captious contented and services escaped of charge," she said.

The cuts would pb to galore section nationalist vigor and tv stations shutting unopen down, meaning "millions of Americans volition person little trustworthy accusation astir their communities, states, country, and world," she added.

NPR successful a connection aft the ballot condemned it arsenic "an unwarranted dismantling of beloved section civic institutions, and an enactment of Congress that disregards the nationalist will." Katherine Maher, president and CEO of NPR, said agrarian communities volition consciousness the brunt of the antagonistic impacts.

"Public vigor is besides a lifeline, connecting agrarian communities to the remainder of the nation, and providing life-saving exigency broadcasting and upwind alerts," Maher said. "Nearly 3-in-4 Americans accidental they trust connected their nationalist vigor stations for alerts and quality for their nationalist safety."

The House voted aft Republican leaders quelled a rebellion from their members connected the Rules Committee who wanted a ballot connected requiring the authorities to merchandise files relating to convicted enactment offender Jeffrey Epstein, an contented that has divided the MAGA helping of the enactment successful caller days. They placated those GOP lawmakers by approving a abstracted "rule," mounting up a ballot arsenic soon arsenic adjacent week connected a symbolic resolution calling for the merchandise of definite Epstein documents.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who has projected a abstracted Epstein-related measurement that would transportation the unit of law, called the determination by his party's leaders a stunt.

"Congress thinks you're stupid," Massie said connected X. "The rules committee passed a NON-BINDING Epstein resolution, hoping folks volition judge it arsenic real. It forces the merchandise of NOTHING."

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said the Massie proposal, co-authored by Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., has "teeth." By contrast, helium said, the mentation Republicans are advancing is "a meaningless, hortatory, fig leaf, Swiss food solution that has nary teeth astatine all."

"It doesn't adjacent person dentures. It's each cavities," Raskin said. (Democrats, anxious to instrumentality the flames of Republican infighting, person embraced to propulsion to merchandise Epstein documents.)

Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, called the home cuts an effort to "defund left-wing authorities sponsored outlets." Other Republicans — astir notably Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who voted against the measurement — warned that the NPR and PBS cuts could beryllium damaging to agrarian areas that trust connected nationalist broadcasting.

Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, D-N.M., said, "The nationalist volition retrieve who stood with Big Bird and who strangled him."

The measure had to instrumentality to the House aft the Senate trimmed it from $9.4 billion, removing $400 cardinal successful projected cuts to PEPFAR, which galore Republicans said they support.

Before the vote, apical Democrats successful some chambers warned that the GOP was strangling the bipartisan quality of authorities backing by undoing antecedently approved spending connected a partisan basis. They besides said the rescissions bundle cedes excessively overmuch powerfulness to the enforcement branch.

"I americium profoundly fearful that, astatine a clip erstwhile appropriators indispensable travel unneurotic to support our powerfulness of the purse, the way the bulk has chosen volition lone past to degrade the efficacy and credibility of what we are doing successful this room," Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the ranking subordinate connected the Appropriations Committee, said earlier the House vote.