The House narrowly passed the first round of DOGE cuts that would slash $9.4 billion in funding for PBS, NPR, and foreign aid.
It was the first time that Congress had moved to ratify savings after billionaire Elon Musk and his team worked to cut federal funding across the government.
Republicans were able to squeak through the so-called rescissions package to claw back money in a 214 to 212 vote. It was actually on track to fail before two Republicans switched their votes.
Four Republicans voted against axing the funds, along with every Democratic House member who voted.
The bill would cancel more than $8 billion in foreign aid. Slashing the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been popular with MAGA Republicans ever since Musk pushed to permanently shutter the agency earlier this year.
It also cancels more than $1 billion for public television and radio broadcasting. Conservative Republicans have long called for defunding PBS and NPR and criticized their news coverage.
Sesame Street, featuring Muppet favorites like Big Bird and Elmo, has aired on PBS since its debut in November, 1969.
If it passes in the Senate, the cuts would still be just a drop in the bucket compared to the $1 trillion in government spending Musk was tasked with identifying to be cut when President Donald Trump put him in charge of DOGE.
The White House has signaled that the bill passed in the House on Thursday was just the first of multiple rescission packages it would send over to Congress.
But the spending bill’s passage was not assured heading into Thursday’s vote as several GOP moderates voiced concerns with the cuts.
Just ahead of the count, Trump made his own personal appeal to Republicans on social media to pass the bill, which he called a “NO BRAINER.”
“For decades, Republicans have promised to cut NPR, but have never done it, until now. NPR and PBS are a Radical Left Disaster, and 1000% against the Republican Party!” Trump wrote.
In the end, Reps. Mark Amodei of Nevada, Mike Turner of Ohio, Nicole Malliotakis of New York, and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania defied the president and joined Democrats in voting against it.
Reps. Don Bacon and Nick LaLota flipped their votes to support the funding cuts at the very last minute, allowing it to pass. In LaLota’s case, Speaker Mike Johnson could be seen lobbying him ahead of his voting “yes.”
After voting against the cuts, Amodei released a blistering statement.
“This is forward funding. So, before we trigger major consequences for our local public broadcasting stations throughout the West and other rural areas, we need more discussion—rather than railroading folks over the East Coast’s editorials and indiscretions,” he said.
“I agree we must make meaningful cuts to shrink our federal deficit; however, I would be doing a disservice to the thousands of rural constituents in my district if I did not fight to keep their access to the rest of the world and news on the air,” he added.
The post Big Bird Goes Down as House Passes First DOGE Cuts appeared first on The Daily Beast.
