Congress approves a $9 billion spending cut targeting public broadcasting and foreign aid, overcoming GOP divisions despite the cuts making up a small share of the budget.

In a statement, Duffy said the Federal Railroad Administration terminated approximately $4 billion in unspent funding for “California’s High Speed Rail Boondoggle,” saying the $135 billion projected cost of the project could buy every San Francisco and Los Angeles resident nearly 200 round trip flights between the cities.

Senate GOP appropriators want their leaders to bring a package of fiscal 2026 spending bills to the floor before August recess, Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Thursday.

House Speaker Mike Johnson secures victory as Congress approves $9 billion in spending cuts targeting international aid and public broadcasting in first rescissions package in decades.

GOP senators said they would remove $400 million in cuts to PEPFAR from the rescissions proposal, which targets foreign aid and public broadcasting, ahead of a Friday deadline.

Senate overcame concerns from some lawmakers about what the rescissions could mean for impoverished people around the globe and for local public radio and television stations in their home states.

The rescissions bill to claw back funding approved for foreign aid, NPR and PBS is a top Trump priority, but some Senate Republicans have raised concerns about the cuts.

The Senate burns the midnight oil hoping to pass Trump’s spending agenda, the man accused of fatally stabbing four college students in Idaho appears to have accepted a plea deal, and the city of Los Angeles is again engrossed in a legal battle over immigration.