How difficult can it be to cut government spending in Washington? It took the Senate until 2:30 this morning to finally agree to a $9 billion rescission package that will remove 0.13% from the federal budget. It only passed by a 51-48 margin after two Republicans balked at spending cuts.
Nevertheless, this gives Donald Trump his first big win with DOGE, although don't expect Elon Musk to join him in celebration. And it's not over yet, as the rescission bill now needs to pass in the House:
The Senate passed a White House-endorsed plan to cancel $9 billion in federal funding for foreign-aid programs and public media after the Republican-led chamber blocked attempts to slim down the package in a marathon overnight voting session.
The measure was approved 51-48 at 2:30 a.m. on Thursday, largely along party lines, with Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joining Democrats in opposition. The bill now heads to the House, which must pass it by Friday or the executive branch is supposed to release the funding.
Republican senators defeated a series of revisions sought by Democrats and some Republicans to restore funding in the package that aims to write into law cuts identified by President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency effort.
In fact, this was tougher than even the final vote suggests. J.D. Vance had to take a tiebreaking vote on a procedural hurdle when Mitch McConnell joined Collins and Murkowski to block the package. (McConnell voted to pass the final bill, however.) During the lengthy debate, Senate Republicans had to rewrite portions of the bill to curry votes from their own caucus, restoring some funding to PEPFAR (a good choice), shifting climate-change funds to Native American radio stations in the Dakotas (a better use, anyway), and some ag supports related to aid programs but more for the benefit of farmers (YMMV). Those and other marginal changes were enough to get the bill to the 51-48 finale.
However, that means that the bill has to go back to the lower chamber now for passage on a short time schedule. The House barely passed its own version of this bill a month ago, 214/212. Four Republicans voted against the bill at that time, a margin that Mike Johnson can't afford this time around. Johnson had his hands full yesterday with the crypto package, but in the end secured approval for the rule on the vote for both packages:
Attention now moves to the House where intra-Republican feuding on Wednesday temporarily delayed adoption of a rule to allow for same-day votes on the rescissions package. But leaders reached a deal late in the evening on unrelated crypto legislation that cleared a path for the rescissions measure, which must be passed by Congress by midnight Friday under a process set out by a 1974 budget law.
Failure to meet that timeline would mean the modified package, which includes $7.9 billion in foreign aid cuts and $1.1 billion in canceled spending for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, must be unfrozen by the White House and spent as originally directed by Congress.
So far, there doesn't seem to be any coordinated effort by a House GOP faction to torpedo this 0.13% reduction in federal spending. That may change as members come to the floor today, but one can expect Trump to lean on members again as he did yesterday on the crypto bill. The White House made it clear yesterday to Senate Republicans that they are 'scoring' this vote to determine which incumbents to support in next year's midterm, and that will certainly apply in the House as well.
Public radio stations are pushing back hard, however. They are urging their listeners to respond to the clarion clarinet call and call their representatives to block the cuts that they describe as an existential crisis:
This is a critical moment for WUWM and the entire public media system. The federal dollars that flow through the CPB help to pay for music licensing and programming, support local journalism and maintain the emergency alert systems that keep our communities safe. Without that funding, stations like ours across the nation will face tough choices about how to sustain the trusted news, educational programming and cultural connection you rely on every day.
Because you value the role that WUWM and public media play in your life and in our region, now is the time to make your voice heard — again.
That's a totally legitimate strategy, but also one doomed to failure anyway. Most of the NPR/PBS/CPB listeners and viewers live in deep blue urban areas already, despite the laughable claims of Katherine Maher about their traction in Tractor Land. That's because the programming on these stations has become relentlessly progressive and focused on urban obsessions. At this stage, public broadcasting has done such a fine job of marginalizing itself within a progressive bubble that its consumers have no real political sway with the congresspeople who matter on this vote.
Johnson will likely deliver a win on this package and a victory for DOGE, either today or tomorrow. However, it's not exactly a game-changer, given the amount saved. It has been a very instructive look at just how entrenched the Swamp has become in DC, though, when even supposed fiscal hawks in the GOP balk at slicing off even a wafer-thin 0.13% of the federal budget.
Addendum: Fox's Chad Pergram has the expected timing for the vote. Click through to get more details on the crypo votes that will also come up today:
The House of Representatives is expected to sync up with the Senate this evening and approve $9 billion in cuts for public broadcasting and USAID.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 17, 2025
We expect the House to approve the bill sometime between 7:30 and 9:30 pm et.
The House is also expected to approve three…
Update: Or maybe not ...
🚨NEWS — @SpeakerJohnson says the House vote on the rescissions package “may be tomorrow.”
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) July 17, 2025
Bill has to pass by Friday night. House is scheduled to be out of session friday.
“We’re just trying to connect everybody's schedules. It's an attendance issue. We're making sure…
In other words, the vote's going to be close -- but we knew that already. Will Johnson have enough to get it passed?
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