The House passed the first round of DOGE cuts, slashing $9.4 billion in taxpayer-funded giveaways to radical foreign aid and outlets like NPR and PBS.
In a 214-212 vote—nearly split along party lines—House Republicans passed a rescissions bill aimed at cutting wasteful discretionary spending, following the recommendations of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a Trump-era initiative designed to root out ideological excess buried in the federal budget—cuts like far-left outlets NPR and PBS.
“President Trump promised to drain the swamp, and this is a bold step in that direction,” said House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN). “By enacting these DOGE-backed cuts, we’re pulling the plug on reckless leftist spending and getting America’s fiscal house back in order.”
Introduced by Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), the bill was fast-tracked after President Trump submitted a rescissions package last week. Thanks to the Impoundment Control Act, the GOP bypassed the Democrat filibuster game—only a simple majority is required in both chambers.
Here’s what’s getting the axe:
$8.3 billion ripped from the State Department and USAID, including absurd programs like “Net Zero Cities” in Mexico, Iraqi Sesame Street, and global LGBTQ+ activism masquerading as diplomacy.
$1.1 billion torn from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the taxpayer-funded megaphone for NPR and PBS, which have pushed everything from trans propaganda for toddlers to their infamous censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal.
Democrats, naturally, melted down. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) took to the House floor holding an Elmo doll—yes, seriously—to accuse Republicans of waging war on Sesame Street. “This is what the modern Left has been reduced to—defending puppet propaganda while the country struggles with inflation and an open border,” said one GOP aide.
Deranged Rep. Hakeem Jeffries just brought a stuffed Elmo toy onto the House floor… all to protest cuts to PBS.
— Resist Times (@resistupdates) June 12, 2025
Yes, this is what Democrats are doing while the country burns.pic.twitter.com/VhtjOaGDRE
Scalise dismissed Jeffries’ theater, pointing out Sesame Street is already being bankrolled by Netflix. “The truth is, what’s actually being cut is the radical leftist nonsense infecting these platforms.”
The bill is expected to form the blueprint for even deeper spending cuts in 2026, including further DOGE-backed reductions and a sweeping Trump-endorsed effort to rein in Washington’s runaway budget via the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” initiative.
Before the vote, Trump rallied support on Truth Social, calling the legislation a “NO BRAINER.”
“We’re clawing back $9.4 BILLION in wasteful Foreign Aid used for Radical DEI, the Green New SCAM, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds the highly biased NPR and PBS,” Trump wrote. “Republicans, don’t blow this.”
The bill now heads to the Senate, where establishment Democrats and their corporate media allies are already panicking. But with momentum building and Trump’s America First agenda back in full swing, the days of funding global woke experiments and toddler drag story hours with U.S. tax dollars may be numbered.