In a major win for President Donald Trump, the U.S. Senate early Thursday morning passed a sweeping $9 billion spending cut package targeting foreign aid and public broadcasting—delivering another legislative success aligned with Trump’s fiscal agenda.
According to the Financial Times, the Republican-controlled Senate approved the bill in a narrow 51–48 vote shortly after 2 a.m. Once signed into law, the bill will strip taxpayer funding from NPR and PBS, long seen by conservatives as liberal-leaning media institutions.
The legislation also slashes up to $8 billion in foreign aid—including cuts to global health initiatives, refugee and migration support, and international disaster relief. Funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) would be halted once the House votes on the bill, expected later this week. The final deadline for passage is Friday.
Republicans framed the cuts as a step toward fiscal discipline and a rejection of what they view as unnecessary and politically biased institutions.
“It’s a small but important step toward fiscal sanity that we all should be able to agree is long overdue,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), who championed the bill despite opposition from two senior GOP members of the Appropriations Committee.
The move reinforces Trump’s broader push to reduce federal spending and “drain the swamp,” as he continues to challenge the status quo in Washington by targeting agencies and programs critics say operate with little accountability.
If the House passes the measure, it will mark yet another fulfillment of Trump’s campaign promise to cut wasteful spending and refocus federal priorities on domestic needs.
