WASHINGTON — The House voted Thursday to claw back $9.4 billion that lawmakers had already approved for foreign aid and public broadcasting, as Republicans banded together to codify spending cuts put forward by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
The 214-212 vote came after the White House asked Congress to formally approve the rollback, which had largely been enacted by executive order and DOGE. The request was something of a pivot for President Trump and his top officials, who have aggressively challenged Congress’ power of the purse and made clear that they are willing to steer around the legislative branch to try to unilaterally control federal spending.
In this case, though, the administration went through normal channels and asked Congress to go along with its efforts to redirect federal money from programs that have historically drawn substantial bipartisan support. The bulk of the funds targeted — $8.3 billion — is for foreign assistance programs. The remaining $1.1 billion is for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS.
“America’s resources should always serve America’s interests,’’ said Representative Warren Davidson, an Ohio Republican. “The reality is the radical left has seized these institutions and wielded them for an agenda that doesn’t serve America’s interests.’’
Four House Republicans opposed the measure, which passed only after Speaker Mike Johnson pressed a handful of GOP lawmakers who had initially voted “no’’ to switch their votes and support it. The proposal’s fate in the Senate is unclear. Republicans can approve the clawbacks with a simple majority vote, but some senators have expressed a range of concerns about taking back money from programs they support, including for public broadcasting and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the global health program that President George W. Bush started and is credited with saving more than 25 million lives worldwide.
Even in the House, where Republicans tend to skew more conservative than their colleagues in the Senate and defer more to Trump, several conservatives had openly fretted about taking back the money.
“Our local stations are dedicated to serving their communities, but their ability to continue offering free, high-quality programming would be eliminated if the federal funding is rescinded,’’ Representative Mark Amodei, a Nevada Republican, had said in the days leading up to the vote. “Rescinding this funding also would isolate rural communities, jeopardizing their access to vital resources they depend on.’’
If approved, the rollbacks to public broadcasting would affect more than 1,500 public media stations, as well as the corporation’s public radio satellite system, which enables national emergency alerts.
Democrats assailed the package.
“This is a bill to shut down rural television and radio stations, cutting off coverage of local news, eliminating emergency information like severe weather alerts, jeopardizing access to PBS children’s programs like ‘Sesame Street,’’’ said Representative Rosa DeLauro, the Connecticut Democrat who is her party’s top member of the House Appropriations Committee. “This is a bill to rip lifesaving support away from the hungry, displaced and sick people in developing countries and conflict zones across the globe.’’
The $9.4 billion package the White House put forward amounts to a minuscule portion of the overall federal funds Congress controls.
But Republicans’ initial reluctance to approve the package, which administration officials had narrowed in an effort to avoid a failed vote, foreshadowed a difficult path ahead for any other spending reductions they might be asked to approve.
