On the 12th (local time), the U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget cut plan for international aid and public broadcasting requested by the Trump administration.

On this day, the House approved a budget rescission package bill that cuts the budget of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) by $9.4 billion (approximately 12.8 trillion won) with 214 votes in favor and 212 against.

Most of the $9.4 billion in cuts targets the USAID program budget. The CPB’s two-year budget of $1.1 billion, which funds public radio NPR and public television PBS, was also included in the list of cuts.

This bill was pushed forward at the request of the Trump administration. When the administration requests cuts to specific institutional sectors within an already approved budget, Congress must decide on approval within 45 days.

In March, CEO and President of National Public Radio (NPR) Katherine Maher and CEO and President of Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Paula Kerger are taking an oath during the government reform subcommittee hearing held at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. /Courtesy of Yonhap News Agency

In the Senate, this bill will pass with a simple majority. The political media outlet The Hill reported, citing Senate Majority Leader John Thune of the Republican Party, that “after processing the Trump administration’s large tax cut bill, known as the ‘Big Beautiful Bill (BBB),’ next month, we will address this bill.”

This bill is the first significant budget cut plan following the start of the second term of the Trump administration. The cuts to the USAID budget are a restructuring task primarily pushed by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Since the start of his second term, Trump has expressed overt hostility toward USAID and public broadcasting.

On this day, during the House vote, he wrote on social media platform Truth Social that “the $9.4 billion officially rescinded was spent on wasteful foreign aid, radical DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) policies, the Green New Scam (fraud under the guise of environmental protection), and support for the extremely biased NPR and PBS.”

Trump added, “For decades, the Republican Party has promised to cut NPR’s budget but has been unable to do so until now,” and stated, “NPR and PBS are disasters created by radical leftists and are 1000% opposed to the Republican Party.”