Russ Vought / The White House / Flickr
The White House submitted a $9.4 billion rescissions package to Congress June 3, targeting foreign aid and public broadcasting in what officials describe as a sweeping effort to reduce wasteful government spending.
Drafted by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in coordination with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the proposal includes $8.3 billion in cuts to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the African Development Foundation.
It also includes $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Services (PBS).
The legislation also takes aim at federal funding for the World Health Organization and various United Nations climate and diversity programs abroad.
CatholicVote endorsed the proposal Thursday, calling on Congress to act swiftly.
“The House and Senate must act quickly to pass the President’s rescissions package,” CatholicVote wrote on X. “It defunds left-wing programs—including PBS, which recently aired a show about a trans immigrant child forced to ‘deal with’ his Catholic family.”
The OMB highlighted several spending targets in a social media thread, including $33,000 for a program called “Being LGBTI in the Caribbean,” $643,000 for “LGBTQI+” programs in the Western Balkans, and $567,000 for similar programs in Uganda.
Millions more reportedly funded global “LGBTQIA+” programs and contraceptive initiatives, such as $5.1 million for efforts to build “resilience of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans gender, intersex, and queer global movements,” and over $800,000 for “transgender people, sex workers and their clients and sexual networks” in Nepal.
OMB Director Russ Vought defended the cuts in an appearance on Fox News, calling the package “very important.”
“We are intending to be strategic, work with Congress, see what they’re willing to do, and if they pass this, we’ll send up many more,” he added.
The submission of the rescissions package begins a 45-day window for Congress to act.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-LA, confirmed the House had received the legislation and vowed to move quickly.
“This rescissions package reflects many of DOGE’s findings and is one of the many legislative tools Republicans are using to restore fiscal sanity,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-LA, said in a Tuesday statement. “Congress will continue working closely with the White House to codify these recommendations, and the House will bring the package to the floor as quickly as possible.”
