Trump asks Congress to approve $9.4 billion in public media and foreign aid cuts

President Donald Trump wants Congress to approve DOGE-driven cuts of $9.4 billion that would directly affect international aid and public media.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the White House sent Congress a previously approved federal funding request proposal that directly targets public media—NPR and PBS—and taxpayer money turned into foreign aid.

"The initial rescissions package includes $8.3 billion in cuts to foreign aid and trims $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service," the WSJ detailed.

Despite receiving questions from administration critics, the measure has a serious chance of passing Congress because only a simple majority is needed, and Republicans control both Houses. However, the challenge for the White House is that some Republicans have expressed reservations about these massive cuts.

Specifically, the cuts package contemplates a major defunding of $3.6 billion against the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which DOGE almost completely dismantled. The proposal also calls for a $2.36 billion cut to the Department of State.

Russ Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, justified the proposed cuts by arguing that the funding rescissions "would eliminate programs that are antithetical to American interests," citing funding for the World Health Organization (WHO) or LGBT initiatives overseas.

Likewise, Vought also said defunding "biased" public media was necessary.

The White House proposal comes amid the push for a "great, wonderful" Trump bill, which has been sharply criticized for proposing to increase government spending and thereby deepen the fiscal deficit.

The measure could help balance the perception that Republicans are reneging on their promise to reduce federal government waste.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, in fact, publicly said he will bring the cuts package to the floor quickly and described it as "one of the many legislative tools Republicans are using to restore fiscal sanity."

The White House's request to Congress also comes after NPR and PBS filed lawsuits accusing the Trump administration of violating federal law and the Constitution by ordering the withdrawal of funds to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The networks called the move a case of "blatant viewpoint discrimination."