Congress passes first DOGE spending reductions

After months of making its way through Congress, the Department of Government Efficiency’s first $9 billion in spending cuts cleared Congress just after midnight on Friday morning in a 216-213 vote. Two Republicans voted against its passage.

It’s a modest number—a far cry from the trillion-dollar figure DOGE set out to enact. But to members like Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., it’s a remarkable step in the right direction.

“This is the biggest [spending] cut I’ve ever seen. It’s like the only cut I’ve ever seen. So, if we have more of them, that’s great,” Massie said.

The rescissions package consisted of $7.9 billion in reductions to U.S. foreign aid programs and $1.1 billion in cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting—the organization that provides financial support and policy direction for services like NPR and PBS. With DOGE claiming it has found up to $190 billion in savings, Republicans hope this package is just the first of many. And while not all of the $190 billion figure will need congressional approval, Republicans have high expectations for continuing the momentum. That depends on whether they can stick together on their priorities.

Rescissions bills can only undo spending that Congress has approved but hasn’t yet spent. The vehicle can’t be used to shrink mandatory spending to programs such as Medicare and Social Security. Additionally, Congress may only make cuts that the president requests.

The objective to cut spending is a largely unifying effort in the Republican conference. Massie, the lawmaker from Kentucky, is one of the most vocal critics of the House speaker, the Trump administration, and congressional Republicans when it comes to spending. He has voted against the majority of his own party 34 times this year—disagreeing with the prevailing Republican consensus 18% of the time.

But even Massie put his support behind Friday’s vote.

“I’m just happy about the process. Whatever we can agree to cut, we cut,” Massie said. “Usually, it’s whatever we can agree to spend, we spend. This is the opposite process, so I don’t care if the next recession is $5 billion or $10 billion or if it’s $50 billion, so long as we’re cutting.”

But although most Republicans can support on principle the goal of reducing spending, the effort depends largely on whether the House and Senate can see eye-to-eye on what to keep and what to eliminate.

A rescissions package is a special type of legislation that Congress gives expedited consideration to at the request of the president. Unlike most bills, a rescissions bill can pass both chambers of Congress with a simple majority vote. Without that stipulation, Republicans would need the support of at least seven Democrats in the Senate to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to defeat a filibuster. Republicans hold 53 seats in the chamber.

Republicans can pass an aggressively conservative recissions package without a single Democrat vote but can only afford to lose three Republican votes in the Senate and four in the House.

Despite its ultimate success, this week’s rescissions package initially seemed poised to break that unity in the Senate when some Republican lawmakers objected to cuts to foreign aid programs. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and others raised concerns about $400 million in reductions to PEPFAR—a U.S. program meant to combat aids in Africa.

To preserve unity, lawmakers removed the PEPFAR reductions from the bill.

It’s a relatively small change to the original version the House passed back in June. But the tweak could foreshadow senators’ willingness to water down reductions demanded by fiscal hawks in the House. When asked if she’s concerned that the two chambers will clash on their priorities going forward, Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., said GOP leadership will take disagreements in stride.

“Listen, the House is going to continue to do what the House does, and we’re going to put the most conservative rescissions package on the floor that we can put, and the Senate is going to do what they do,” McClain said. “We’ve seen the game before.”

McClain serves as the House GOP Conference Chair and helps set the tone of party messaging and coordination. “We wish the Senate would just take up our bills,” she said.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., believes the bill’s passage marks the fulfillment of the commitments Republicans made coming into the year.

“President Trump and House Republicans promised fiscal responsibility and government efficiency,” Johnson said in a statement. “Today, we’re once again delivering on that promise.”

GOP leaders have not said when they expect to receive the next rescissions package request from the White House.