By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday narrowly passed President Donald Trump’s request to slash $9.4 billion in spending on foreign aid and public broadcasting, sending the package for consideration by the Senate.
The measure passed the House, where Trump’s Republicans hold a slim majority and have shown little appetite for opposing his initiatives, by 214-212. The final vote party breakdown for the vote was not immediately available, but a small number of Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the bill.
It was a victory for Trump, who had lobbied for the measure, including in a post on his Truth Social media site just before the vote. He referred to foreign aid as wasteful and called National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service a “Radical Left Disaster.”
If the Senate approves the bill and it becomes law, the “rescissions” memo requesting the elimination of $9.4 billion in spending already approved by lawmakers would make permanent some of the cuts put in place by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
It will also limit the risk to Trump’s administration that courts would find that he cannot legally circumvent the constitutional requirement that Congress, not the president, sets federal spending.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
