President Trump Seeks Congress’s Approval for Package of DOGE Cuts

With Elon Musk gone, the next act of streamlining government is now set to play out on Capitol Hill—and publicly funded media and foreign aid are first to be targeted. The White House sent Congress a $9.4 billion rescissions package that would codify some spending cuts made by the Trump administration, effectively asking lawmakers to reverse spending they previously voted into law. The White House also is weighing the use of a separate, controversial process called impoundment to claw back funds, sidestepping the legislative branch and setting up a likely legal battle. The initial rescissions package includes $8.3 billion in cuts to foreign aid and trims $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service. The measure can pass the Republican-controlled House and Senate with a simple majority, but some GOP lawmakers have expressed concerns about the package. Republican leaders have said they wanted to move quickly on the package, just as they are also working to advance President Trump’s “one big, beautiful” bill that cuts taxes while also trimming spending on Medicaid and food aid. That bill passed the House last month, and the Senate is now taking it up. The director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought, said the rescissions “would eliminate programs that are antithetical to American interests,” such as funding the World Health Organization and LGBTQ activities. He called public media “politically biased” and an “unnecessary expense to the taxpayer.”