The US Congress approved Donald Trump's $9 billion cuts

In a vote held in the early hours of Friday, Republicans in the United States House of Representatives gave final approval to a package of budget cuts totaling 9 billion dollars that mainly target foreign aid and public broadcasting, granting a new and significant legislative victory for President Donald Trump.

Congress gave the green light to the initiative, which is part of Trump's plan to reduce public spending through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), using an uncommon budgetary mechanism that allows the Executive Branch to bypass potential blockages in the Senate. Now, the measure will be sent to Trump for his final signature.

Of the total amount cut, about 8 billion dollars will come from international aid programs previously approved by Congress. This reduction is part of the Trump administration's plan to progressively dismantle the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which revealed serious irregularities and corruption related to Democrats, after being audited by the current administration.

Meanwhile, another 1.1 billion dollars will be cut from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), an entity that funds media outlets such as NPR and PBS.

The project was approved by a narrow margin of 216 votes in favor and 213 against. The only two Republican lawmakers who voted against were Mike Turner and Brian Fitzpatrick.

The initiative, which enacts into law several of the cuts promoted by DOGE, has been a priority for both Trump and conservative sectors of Congress who have historically criticized the growth of public spending and its impact on the country's debt.

Rescission laws, a legislative tool by which Congress revokes previously allocated funds, are used on rare occasions, and it had been more than twenty years since any had managed to be approved by the Senate.

During his first term, in 2018, then-President Donald Trump attempted to push through a package of cuts totaling 15 billion dollars, but the initiative failed due to opposition from Senator Susan Collins and then-Senator Richard Burr, Republican from North Carolina. Meanwhile, former Democratic presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama chose not to use this tool.