On Thursday, the United States House of Representatives narrowly passed the first rescissions package, which will eliminate billions in unnecessary spending by the federal government. The bill will now go to the Senate, where it requires only a simple majority to pass.
This first rescissions package is said to cut $9.4 billion in spending.
The House of Representatives passed President Donald Trump’s $9.4 billion plan to claw back federal funds for foreign aid, PBS and NPR.
The 214 to 212 vote was mostly along party lines, with no Democrats voting for the bill. Four Republicans voted against the measure, however – Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., Mike Turner, R-Ohio, Mark Amodei, R-Nev., and Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y.
A dramatic scene played out on the House floor on Thursday afternoon as the bill appeared poised to fail, with six Republican lawmakers having voted “no.”
Fox News Digital observed Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., huddled with several moderate Republicans who either voted “no” or had not yet voted.
Some of the cuts in the bill include:
…a $8.3 billion rollback of funding to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and just over $1 billion in cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funnels federal dollars to NPR and PBS.
This is, as someone once said, a big freaking deal. Now, passage in the Senate is not assured; while only a simple majority is required, the GOP’s Senate majority is slim indeed. And if the Senate makes changes to the package, a second, final House vote would be required before this heads to the president’s desk.
Republicans have a lot riding on this, as does President Trump.
