House approves Trump's $8.3 billion clawback of US foreign aid

The House of Representatives has agreed to claw back $8.3 billion in previously approved foreign assistance, passing a rescissions package that codifies cuts made over the last several months and slices away even more money for lifesaving aid. President Donald Trump requested the cuts through a $9.4 billion rescissions package, which was sent to Congress earlier this month. Immediately, the package was applauded by House Speaker Mike Johnson, who said his chamber was “eager to eliminate” billions of dollars of "wasteful foreign aid spending.” On Thursday, the House voted to do just that — but the margin was razor-thin. The package passed on a 214-212 vote, with four Republican lawmakers voting against the package and two abstaining. No Democrats supported the rescission request. “For too long, American tax dollars have bankrolled Leftist propaganda through PBS, NPR & corrupt foreign aid through USAID,” Rep. Mary Miller, a Republican from Illinois, wrote from her X account just minutes after the votes were cast. “THAT ENDS NOW.” It’s the first of several rescission packages expected to come from the Trump administration, which has repeatedly used cuts to foreign aid as a litmus test for executive power. Over the last six months, the White House has canceled the vast majority of USAID’s programs — and this rescissions package, alongside Trump’s 2026 budget request and other proposed rollbacks, would slash foreign assistance spending by 85%. The package still needs to be cleared by the Senate. But if approved, the U.S. would rescind $900 million in global health spending alone, while slashing billions of dollars for disaster assistance, development aid, United Nations agencies, and more. “My friends on the other side of the aisle would like you to believe, seriously, that if you don’t use your taxpayer dollars to fund this absurd list of projects — and thousands of others that I didn’t even list — that somehow, people will die,” said Rep. Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas, after tallying off a series of programs he disagreed with. “Let’s just reject that now. The White House is right to send out this rescissions package. This should be just step one.” Rep. Jim McGovern, a Democrat from Massachusetts, disagreed, noting that tens of thousands of people have already died as a result of USAID’s dismantling. Today, nearly 335,000 people have lost their lives due to the loss of U.S.-funded health programs, according to Boston University’s School of Public Health — and those deaths continue at a rate of 103 an hour. That’s something Republican lawmakers have repeatedly rejected. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently told Congress that deaths in Myanmar and South Sudan — including that of 5-year-old Evan Anzoo, who lost access to his antiretroviral medication earlier this year — were “false.” “I’d like to think that America’s greatness comes from our humanity,” said McGovern. “Well, it’s clear that Republicans believe that America’s greatness is found in our inhumanity, cruelty, and callousness. And I believe everyone can agree that’s a truly dark, dangerous, and morally bankrupt place to govern from.” While some of that money was approved in 2024, the bulk came from a foreign affairs bill passed in March of this year — weeks after the Department of Government Efficiency took a chainsaw to USAID, explained Emily Byers, the managing director of global development policy at Save the Children USA. “That money is not programmed, not obligated, not funding any Biden-era anything,” Byers added, noting that the administration could use the money to fund its own priorities. “The administration has said, and Secretary Rubio has said, that foreign assistance is still something that we’re going to do. So it just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to us.” The package will now be debated in the Senate, where the battle is expected to be even more contentious. While some lawmakers have expressed their support for the rescissions, other key legislators have done the opposite — including Rep. Susan Collins, the Republican head of the chamber’s appropriations committee. “PEPFAR cuts make no sense to me whatsoever, given the extraordinary record of PEPFAR saving lives,” said Collins, speaking to reporters about the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief last week. “So, I have a lot of concerns.” The rescissions package also includes $1.1 billion in public broadcasting, which funds National Public Radio, or NPR, and the Public Broadcasting Service, PBS. The rollback is expected to affect more than 1,500 public media stations across the U.S., along with the satellite system that manages national emergency alerts. “Part of the intent is that by getting rid of some of these programs — and reducing the amount of money in the account — it means that during the next appropriations cycle, there will be even less money,” said Daryl Grisgraber, the humanitarian policy lead for Oxfam America. “The starting point for the negotiations will be significantly lower.” Trump is expected to send another set of rescission requests to Congress, totaling $21.6 billion overall. Those cuts alongside the president’s proposed budget would drop foreign affairs funding to its lowest levels in 80 years, according to an analysis from the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition — bringing the country back to its funding levels before the end of World War II. “We’re watching this whole idea of an America First agenda really take over,” Grisgraber added. “Does [foreign aid] make America safer, stronger, more prosperous? That’s, of course, a very insular vision of why the United States might do foreign assistance in the first place.”