WASHINGTON — The House narrowly approved President Donald Trump’s $9 billion spending cuts package during a rare overnight voting session on Friday, marking a major victory for the Republican Party after weeks of negotiations.
Lawmakers voted 216-213 to advance the measure with only two Republicans joining all Democrats to oppose the package. All four members of Utah’s delegation voted to approve the measure.
The spending cuts now head to Trump’s desk for his signature.
The rescissions package passed the Senate early Thursday morning, although its future in the House looked uncertain after a handful of Republican lawmakers raised concerns about Democratic efforts to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein.
Democrats have been hammering Republicans on the issue all week, forcing their GOP colleagues to vote against proposals releasing the files due to procedural loopholes — even those in the Republican Party who want those files to be published.
Those concerns led to a last-minute agreement with GOP leadership to vote on a separate nonbinding resolution to release the files that would give Republican lawmakers some political cover and an opportunity to quickly advance the rescissions package ahead of the Friday deadline.
The bill includes roughly $9 billion in spending cuts for programs already approved by Congress but targeted by the Trump administration as being wasteful or anti-conservative.
One of the most notable provisions is language to rescind roughly $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which was authorized by Congress in 1967. The corporation helps to provide funding for PBS and NPR, which Republicans have targeted over accusations of anti-conservative bias.
Less than 1% of NPR’s total funding comes from the federal government, but some local and rural stations rely on those funds for emergency alert systems and other educational purposes.
The package also contains billions of dollars in cuts to other foreign aid and humanitarian projects, particularly in relation to the United Nations, which some Republicans have accused of being rife with fraud and abuse.