President Trump on Thursday signed legislation to claw back roughly $9 billion in previously approved congressional spending, with much of it affecting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Trump signed into law a rescissions package that passed the House and Senate last week, making the spending cuts official.
The $9 billion package targets money for global aid programs and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds National Public Radio and PBS, organizations Trump and his allies have accused of liberal bias.
The White House agreed to an amendment to remove from the package $400 million in cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a global anti-AIDS initiative, in the face of GOP pushback.
White House budget chief Russell Vought told reporters last week that the administration is likely to send another rescissions package to Congress, though he did not provide details on timing or what would be in the next request.
The Trump administration has targeted government spending for cuts it has deemed wasteful or unaligned with the president’s “America first” agenda. But some lawmakers have expressed reservations about ceding the power of the purse to the administration to revoke previously approved funding.
