In a close 51–48 vote early Thursday, the Senate approved the Rescissions Act of 2025—a bill that would cancel approximately $9 billion in previously approved but unspent federal funds. The move marks a rare use of Congress’s authority to roll back spending and reflects renewed efforts by lawmakers to address the federal budget with more scrutiny.
Requested by President Trump, the legislation targets unused funds from last year’s appropriations. Most of the proposed cuts—about $8.3 billion—would come from international aid programs, including USAID and PEPFAR, with another $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps support outlets like PBS and NPR (Wikipedia).
A Divided Senate
The vote followed an extended series of amendment debates, with Democrats and two Republican Senators—Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska—joining in opposition. Both raised concerns that the legislation did not provide enough detail about which specific programs would be affected. Key issues included potential reductions to global health initiatives and public media services, especially those serving rural and remote areas.
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