The Senate has approved the Trump administration’s $9 billion rescission package aimed at clawing back money already allocated for public radio and television — a major step toward winding down nearly six decades of federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). CPB stands to lose $1.1 billion dollars meant to fund it through the next two years, while the bill also cuts $7.9 billion in other programs. CPB acts as a conduit for federal money to NPR, PBS and their member stations. In a marathon “vote-a-rama” session that lasted into the early hours Thursday, senators introduced numerous amendments, before ultimately voting 51-to-48 to approve the package that includes cuts to foreign food and health programs. One senator, Minnesota’s Tina Smith (D), was not present. The senate’s approval of the cuts tees up a final showdown in the House, which approved an earlier version last month. The Senate vote was largely along party lines, with Democrats voting against the bill and all but two Republicans voting for it. The GOP exceptions were Maine’s Susan Collins and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski. Kentucky Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, who voted on Tuesday not to advance debate on the bill, prompting Vice President JD Vance to cast a tie-breaking vote, nonetheless approved the final measure.
Attention now moves to the House where intra-Republican feuding on Wednesday temporarily delayed adoption of a rule to allow for same-day votes on the rescissions package. But leaders reached a deal late in the evening on unrelated crypto legislation that cleared a path for the rescissions measure, which must be passed by Congress by midnight Friday under a process set out by a 1974 budget law. Failure to meet that timeline would mean the modified package, which includes $7.9 billion in foreign aid cuts and $1.1 billion in canceled spending for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, must be unfrozen by the White House and spent as originally directed by Congress.
For today, the Senate is expected to take up a Motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar #260, Joshua M. Divine, of Missouri, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri.
The House is expected to work on H. Res. ___ – Providing for consideration of the Senate Amendment to H.R. 4, Rescissions Act of 2025 before turning to H.R. 3633 – Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025, S. 1582 – GENIUS Act and H.R. 1919 – Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act.
Later today, the House is expected to complete consideration of H.R. 4016 – Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2026 and the Senate Amendment to H.R. 4 – Rescissions Act of 2025.
The future of the trio of crypto regulation bills was thrown into question Wednesday after a second day of opposition from conservative House Republicans held up the legislation for 10 hours before it finally moved forward. Fresh opposition also emerged over the course of the day from moderate Republicans who objected to last-minute changes intended to appease an original group of hardline conservative holdouts whose ‘no’ votes had tanked the bills on Tuesday. Late Wednesday night, a group of ‘no’ votes flipped to yesses, and the chamber finally approved the rules of debate for the crypto bills and an adjacent Pentagon appropriations package. Wednesday’s marathon vote set the record for the longest open vote in modern House history, a record that had had been set earlier in the month.
