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Welcome to The Logoff: The House passed a bill clawing back billions in federal funding for foreign aid and public media early Friday morning, sending it to President Donald Trump’s desk for a signature.
What does the bill do? The bill, called a rescissions package, targeted about $9 billion in total funding and originates from a White House request to withdraw funding that had already been allocated. The vast majority of that money comes from foreign aid programs. The remainder, some $1.1 billion, was money for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which funds PBS, NPR, and their affiliate stations.
What does this mean for foreign aid? The rescissions request impacts $7.9 billion in foreign aid spending, including money for migration and refugee assistance, international peacekeeping, development assistance, and disaster relief.
One foreign aid program, PEPFAR, escaped. A $400 million cut to the enormously effective HIV/AIDS prevention program, which has saved millions of lives in its 20-plus years of existence, was removed from the rescissions package after pushback by Senate Republicans.
What about public media? National Public Radio receives only a small portion of its funding from CPB, but the cuts stand to impact local affiliate stations and PBS more substantially. CPB warned in a statement that the bill’s passage will mean “many local public radio and television stations will be forced to shut down,” and noted it could also impact access to emergency alerts.
Why does this matter? This was a relatively small amount of money in the context of the federal budget, but the lost funding will have real impacts. The bill also reflects an ongoing effort by Trump to seize the power of the purse from Congress. As Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, one of two Republican senators to oppose the measure, put it, “What we’re getting now is a direction from the White House and being told, ‘This is the priority. We want you to execute on it.’”
And with that, it’s time to log off…
Twenty-six new sites were just added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, bringing the total to 1,248. The new additions include four palaces in Germany, built by Bavaria’s “Mad King,” Ludwig II; the coastal and marine ecosystems of the Bijagós Archipelago in Guinea-Bissau; and striking stone megaliths in northern France. NPR has the full list here — it’s a fun reminder of diversity and beauty all around the world.
