Senate Approves Trump's Bid to Cancel Foreign Aid and Public Broadcast Funds [View all]

Source: New York Times

July 17, 2025, 2:37 a.m. ET


The Senate early on Thursday morning approved a White House request to claw back $9 billion for foreign aid and public broadcasting, as Republicans bowed to President Trump in an unusual surrender of congressional spending power.

The 51-to-48 vote came over the objections of two Republicans, who argued that their party was ceding Congress’s constitutional control over federal funding. The Republicans who opposed the measure were Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

The bulk of the funds targeted — about $8 billion — was for foreign assistance programs. The remaining $1.1 billion was for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS. The House is expected to give final approval to the package later this week, sending it to Mr. Trump for his signature.

The debate on the measure laid bare a simmering fight over Congress’s power of the purse. Since Mr. Trump began his second term, the White House has moved aggressively and at times unilaterally, primarily through the Department of Government Efficiency, to expand the executive branch’s control over federal spending, a power the Constitution gives to the legislative branch.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/us/politics/senate-vote-trump-bill-pbs-npr-foreign-aid.html