After an all-night marathon of amendments, the U.S. Senate voted to advance U.S. President Donald Trump’s $9 billion rescissions package on Wednesday. The package will claw back nearly $8 billion in previously approved funding for foreign aid.
The vote came after more than 12 hours of near-continuous roll-call votes, a process known in Capitol Hill as a vote-a-rama. Triggered by the bill’s use of budget reconciliation, the process allowed any senator to offer amendments — producing a legislative showdown that stretched past midnight.
Just after 2 a.m., the senators came to a 51-48 vote, pushing ahead a final bill that’s slated to strip billions of dollars in development, humanitarian, and economic assistance. It will also slice away more than $1 billion in previously approved funds from the United Nations, its agencies and its peacekeeping operations, and rescind funding for public broadcasting in the United States.
About the author
Elissa Miolene
Elissa Miolene reports on USAID and the U.S. government at Devex. She previously covered education at The San Jose Mercury News, and has written for outlets like The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Washingtonian magazine, among others. Before shifting to journalism, Elissa led communications for humanitarian agencies in the United States, East Africa, and South Asia.
