H.R.4 - Rescissions Act of 2025

DOGE scored its first legislative win this week (7/18/25) as Congress passed President Trump’s first rescissions package (H.R. 4). Specifically, this package rescinds roughly $9 billion in previously appropriated funds for USAID and NPR/PBS.

This is a monumental moment for Congress. Although cutting $9 billion alone won’t prevent America’s upcoming debt crisis, it’s a pivotal first step — and H.R. 4 could (and should) be the first of many rescissions by the Trump administration. By showing that the federal budget can be reduced, Congress can begin recovering from its spending addiction.

The funds that were rescinded would have been spent on leftist priorities that undermine American values both at home and abroad. USAID has come to represent foreign aid bureaucracy that has gone off the ideological rails and no longer reflects the will or values of the American people, and in principle, funding for NPR/PBS violates the American founding principles of free speech and expression.

To most Americans, this would seem like an easy place to start trimming the budget; however, it ended up being anything but easy. In the end, certain GOP Senators fought to preserve about $400 million from the package, including proposed cuts to the left-wing expansions of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). This well-intentioned program, which aims to treat HIV/AIDS globally, was taken over by the Biden administration and used as a tool to push their radical abortion and gender ideology agendas. By exempting this funding from the rescissions package, the senators who supported it are forcing the Trump administration to fund gender ideology and abortion.

Despite the massive win that H.R. 4 represents, it also shows us that there is much work to be done to rein in woke and weaponized government funding.