Congress is officially sending a package detailing $9 billion in spending cuts to President Donald Trump’s desk, minutes after midnight on Friday.
The bill, called a "rescissions package," was approved by the House of Representatives in a late-night 216 to 213 vote after intense debate between Republicans and Democrats. Just two Republicans, Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Mike Turner, R-Ohio, voted in opposition.
Friday was also the deadline for passing the legislation, otherwise the White House would be forced to re-obligate those funds as planned.
It’s a victory for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., but a mostly symbolic one – the spending cuts bill was largely seen by Trump allies as a test run of a fiscal claw-back process not used in more than two decades.
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"This bill tonight is part of continuing that trend of getting spending under control. Does it answer all the problems? No. $9 billion, I would say is a good start," House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said during debate on the bill.
When signed by Trump, it will block $8 billion in funding to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and $1 billion to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for the remainder of the fiscal year. The dollars had been allocated by Congress for the duration of fiscal year 2025.
Republicans celebrated it as a victory for cutting off the flow of U.S. taxpayer dollars to what they called "woke" initiatives abroad, while Democrats accused the right of gutting critical foreign aid.
Rescissions packages are a way for the president to have input in Congress’ yearly appropriations process. The White House sends a proposal to block some congressionally obligated funds, which lawmakers have 45 days to get through the House and Senate.
Republicans have also been able to sideline Democrats so far, with the rescissions process lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51.
The last time a rescissions package was signed into law was 1999.
Consideration of the bill began with a House Rules Committee hearing at 6 p.m. on Thursday evening.
Democrats attempted multiple times throughout the process to weaponize the ongoing inter-GOP fallout over the Jeffrey Epstein case, both in the House Rules Committee and on the chamber floor during debate on the bill.
Multiple calls were made for votes to force the release of the so-called Epstein "files."
"If every Republican votes to block our attempt to release the records, they are telling Epstein's victims, you don't matter as much as our political convenience. And that should disgust every single one of us," said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.
Far-right GOP figures are demanding accountability, while Trump has called on his base to move on after the Department of Justice (DOJ) signaled the case was closed.
Initial plans to begin advancing the bill earlier in the day were quickly scuttled, with Republicans on the committee being concerned about being put into a difficult position with potential Epstein votes.
In the end, a compromise led to the House Rules Committee advancing a separate nonbinding measure dealing with Epstein transparency, on a parallel track to the rescissions bill.
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"All the credible evidence should come out. I've been very clear with members of the House Rules Committee. Republicans have been taking the incoming criticism because they voted to stop the Democrats' politicization of this, and they're trying to stick to their job and move their procedural rules to the floor so we can do our work and get the rescissions done for the American people," Johnson told reporters during negotiations earlier in the day.
Democrats nevertheless pressed on, mentioning Epstein multiple times on the House floor. McGovern even briefly led a chant of "release the files" when closing debate on the bill.
Republicans, in turn, accused Democrats of hypocrisy.
"Interesting how they talk about Jeffrey Epstein, because for four years, Mr. Speaker, President Joe Biden had those files, and not a single Democrat that you're hearing tonight tried to get those files released," House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said at one point during the House floor debate.
The House initially voted to advance a $9.4 billion rescissions package, but it was trimmed somewhat in the Senate after some senators had concerns about cutting funding for HIV/AIDS prevention research in Africa.
Trump is expected to sign the bill on Friday.
