Trump's chainsaw advances and Congress approved a historic spending cut

President Donald Trumpachieved a significant breakthrough in his proposal for $9.4 billion in budget cuts, after the House of Representatives approved a procedural motion known as a "rule vote" on Wednesday, which allows debate to begin and sets the project on course for a final vote by the entire House, scheduled for later this week.

The proposal, legislatively introduced by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (Republican-Louisiana), includes an $8.3 billion reduction to the budget of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and over one billion dollars to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which channels federal funds to media outlets such as NPR and PBS.

The rule vote allows the House to debate the bill. Although in many cases House leaders use these votes to include other unrelated measures, this was also the case.

This time, Republicans included minor changes to Trump's bill known as his "Big Beautiful Bill," which combines tax and immigration reforms and is simultaneously advancing through the budget reconciliation process in the Senate.

This budget procedure allows the majority in the Senate, in this case Republicans, to bypass the traditional 60-vote threshold and pass legislation with just 51 votes, provided certain budgetary rules are met.

As part of this process, the Senate conducts what is known as a "Byrd Bath," in which the Senate parliamentarian removes any provision that doesn't comply with reconciliation rules. For this reason, House Republican leaders made adjustments to the bill to ensure it passes that review.

The $9.4 billion package of cuts, formally known as the "rescission package," is a tool that allows the Executive to propose the reversal of funds already allocated for the current fiscal year.

Like reconciliation, this mechanism allows a simple majority vote (51 votes) in the Senate. Congress has a 45-day period to consider the proposal; otherwise, it is considered rejected.

Republican leaders have presented this rescission package as the first step to institutionalize the findings of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an office created under the Trump administration and briefly led by businessmanElon Musk. That department identified billions of dollars in unnecessary spending in the federal government.

This first package is also considered a political test to measure how much budget cutting Republican lawmakers themselves are willing to accept. Although the rule vote was expected to pass without major issues, the final outcome of the bill remains uncertain.

Representative Don Bacon (Republican-Nebraska) commented that he received assurances that the cuts to USAID would not affect funds allocated to critical medical assistance, which gave him greater reassurance regarding the proposal.

With the final vote scheduled for Thursday afternoon, the fate of Trump's ambitious budget-cutting plan will depend on whether Republican leaders can keep their caucus united.