House Republicans voted on Thursday to claw back billions of dollars in federal funding for public broadcasting and foreign aid, locking in the first set of slashes made by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The chamber approved the legislation — known as a rescissions package — in a 214-212 vote, greenlighting $9.4 billion in cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which DOGE went after earlier this year, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funnels dollars to NPR and PBS.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) hailed the package as a large step forward in the GOP’s quest to bringing down the $36 trillion — and growing — deficit.

“Today’s House passage of this initial rescissions package marks a critical step toward a more responsible and transparent government that puts the interests of the American taxpayers first,” Johnson said in a statement after the vote. “It is just one of the ways Republicans are codifying DOGE’s findings and putting taxpayer dollars to better use.”

Despite the emphasis on the legislation, passage was not a sure thing: A handful of Republicans, largely moderates, voiced concerns with the package in the days leading up to the vote, taking issue with cuts to public broadcasting, slashes to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) — first established during the George W. Bush administration — and the overall effort undermining Congress’s authority.

But in the end, only four GOP lawmakers joined all Democrats in voting “no,” giving the package enough support to........

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