The Senate narrowly approved a $9 billion spending rescission package aimed at cutting foreign aid and ending subsidies for NPR and PBS, delivering a win for President Trump’s push to shrink federal spending. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins broke with their party to oppose the bill, which will now return to the House after the Senate restored $400 million in AIDS funding to gain sufficient support.

Collins, while supportive of fiscal restraint, criticized the proposal’s lack of transparency, saying it failed to specify which programs would face cuts, particularly those related to education and food security. Murkowski added that Congress should act independently rather than simply follow White House direction, and both senators objected to reducing funding for public broadcasting, citing its importance to rural and emergency communication.

Despite attempts by Murkowski and Collins to scale back the reductions, the bill passed. Murkowski invoked recent tsunami warnings in Alaska to highlight public radio’s vital role in emergencies. While Senate leaders framed the measure as a modest but important move toward fiscal discipline, some Republicans questioned why a cut representing less than one-tenth of a percent of the budget met such resistance.