Congress sends $9B spending cuts package to Trump's desk after late-night House vote

Congress is officially sending a package detailing billion in spending cuts to President Donald Trump s desk minutes after midnight on Friday The bill called a rescissions package was approved by the House of Representatives in a late-night to vote after intense debate between Republicans and Democrats Just two Republicans Reps Brian Fitzpatrick R-Pa and Mike Turner R-Ohio voted in opposition Friday was also the deadline for passing the law otherwise the White House would be forced to re-obligate those funds as planned It s a mastery for House Speaker Mike Johnson R-La but a mostly symbolic one the spending cuts bill was largely seen by Trump allies as a test run of a fiscal claw-back process not used in more than two decades FAR-LEFT FIREBRAND SAYS SHE 'NEVER HAD A CONCERN' ABOUT BIDEN'S MENTAL STATE AS HOUSE PROBE HEATS UP This bill tonight is part of continuing that trend of getting spending under control Does it answer all the problems No billion I would say is a good start House Majority Leader Steve Scalise R-La noted during debate on the bill When signed by Trump it will block billion in funding to the U S Agency for International Maturation USAID and billion to the Corporation for Community Broadcasting for the remainder of the fiscal year The dollars had been allocated by Congress for the duration of fiscal year Republicans celebrated it as a success for cutting off the flow of U S taxpayer dollars to what they called woke initiatives abroad while Democrats accused the right of gutting critical foreign aid Rescissions packages are a way for the president to have input in Congress yearly appropriations process The White House sends a proposal to block selected congressionally obligated funds which lawmakers have days to get through the House and Senate Republicans have also been able to sideline Democrats so far with the rescissions process lowering the Senate s threshold for passage from votes to The last time a rescissions package was signed into law was Consideration of the bill began with a House Rules Committee hearing at p m on Thursday evening Democrats attempted multiple times throughout the process to weaponize the ongoing inter-GOP fallout over the Jeffrey Epstein occurrence both in the House Rules Committee and on the chamber floor during debate on the bill Multiple calls were made for votes to force the release of the so-called Epstein files If every Republican votes to block our attempt to release the records they are telling Epstein's sufferers you don't matter as much as our political convenience And that should disgust every single one of us revealed Rep Jim McGovern D-Mass Far-right GOP figures are demanding accountability while Trump has called on his base to move on after the Department of Justice DOJ signaled the affair was closed Initial plans to begin advancing the bill earlier in the day were rapidly scuttled with Republicans on the committee being concerned about being put into a tough position with feasible Epstein votes In the end a compromise led to the House Rules Committee advancing a separate nonbinding measure dealing with Epstein transparency on a parallel track to the rescissions bill THOM TILLIS ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT FROM SENATE AFTER CLASH WITH TRUMP All the credible evidence should come out I've been very clear with members of the House Rules Committee Republicans have been taking the incoming criticism because they voted to stop the Democrats' politicization of this and they're trying to stick to their job and move their procedural rules to the floor so we can do our work and get the rescissions done for the American people Johnson described reporters during negotiations earlier in the day Democrats nevertheless pressed on mentioning Epstein multiple times on the House floor McGovern even briefly led a chant of release the files when closing debate on the bill Republicans in turn accused Democrats of hypocrisy Gripping how they talk about Jeffrey Epstein because for four years Mr Speaker President Joe Biden had those files and not a single Democrat that you're hearing tonight tried to get those files published House Majority Leader Steve Scalise R-La mentioned at one point during the House floor debate The House initially voted to advance a billion rescissions package but it was trimmed somewhat in the Senate after various senators had concerns about cutting funding for HIV AIDS prevention research in Africa Trump is expected to sign the bill on Friday