The Trump administration formally asked Congress to rescind $9.4bn in already approved funding from foreign aid and public broadcasters including NPR and PBS on Tuesday, seeking to enshrine spending cuts identified by Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge).
The process, known as rescission, is required by Donald Trump to retrieve money from programs and policies that have already received the funding.
A spokesperson for the White House office of management and budget told the Associated Press that $8.3bn was being cut from the state department and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). NPR and PBS will also lose about $1.1bn in federal funding if Congress fulfills Trump’s request.
The targeting of public broadcasters fits with the Trump administration’s ongoing war on the US media. Trump signed an executive order in May cutting federal funding to NPR and PBS, and has launched multiple lawsuits against other news organizations.
The House and the Senate will now weigh whether to rescind the funding. On Tuesday Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, pledged to pass the cuts.
“This rescissions package reflects many of Doge’s findings and is one of the many legislative tools Republicans are using to restore fiscal sanity,” Johnson said.
“Congress will continue working closely with the White House to codify these recommendations, and the House will bring the package to the floor as quickly as possible.”
Russ Vought, the White House budget director, said more rescission packages and other efforts to cut spending could follow if the current effort succeeds.
“We are certainly willing and able to send up additional packages if the congressional will is there,” Vought told reporters.
NPR sued Trump last week, arguing that the executive order which cut federal funding to what Trump described as “biased media” violated the first amendment right to free speech.
PBS filed a similar lawsuit on Friday, alleging that Trump had overstepped his authority and engaged in “viewpoint discrimination” in cutting its funding.
