US Senate passes $9B in cuts to global aid, public broadcasting

The US Senate voted early Thursday to claw back $9 billion in federal funding for global aid programs and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, sending the package requested by President Trump to the House for a final vote, Repor tinforms via The Hill.

The 51-48 vote on what’s known as a rescissions package is a victory for Trump, who has vowed to shrink the size of the federal government, and who has come under fire from Democrats for adding a projected $3.3 trillion to the debt over the next decade by signing his One Big, Beautiful Bill Act into law earlier this month.

Senators finally passed the package after 2 am Thursday, after voting for more than 12 hours on amendments.

The win is more symbolic than anything, as it would cut only one-tenth of 1 percent from the federal budget.

Even so, Republicans see it as important progress.

“It’s a small but important step toward fiscal sanity that we all should be able to agree is long overdue,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (Senator from South Dakota) said before the final vote.