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President Donald Trump signed the law on his roughly $9 billion retirement package, expanding federal funds already approved for foreign aid and public broadcasting on Thursday, and sources familiar to the issue have been confirmed after both Congresses approved the law earlier that month.
The signature marks another legislative victory for the Trump administration, just two weeks after the president signed the law, telling him his massive tax and domestic policy measures called “a big, beautiful bill.”
The retirement package brings nearly $8 billion back to Congressional funding already approved by the US Organization for International Development (USAID), a formerly independent agency that supported poor countries and provided development assistance.
However, USAID faces layoffs and was absorbed by the State Department amid concerns from the Trump administration that the organization did not promote core US interests.
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President Donald Trump will speak to reporters during a cabinet meeting. (Getty Images)
The retirement package also draws over $1 billion from public broadcasters (CPBs), which provide federal funding to NPR and PBS.
The total $9 billion cut is part of a percentage of the national debt total, currently around $36.7 trillion as of Wednesday.
The House previously voted for the final version of the measure early on Friday after the Senate narrowly approved the measure with a margin of 51-48 in the early morning of July 17th.
Senate majority leader John Tune, Rs.D. said the measure is a step in the right direction, consistent with other priorities to eradicate waste, fraud and abuse within the federal government.
“I am grateful for all the work the administration has done to identify wasteful spending,” Thune said in a speech before voting. “And now it’s time for the Senate to play its part in reducing some of its waste from the budget. That’s a small but important step towards financial sanity that we should all agree on.”
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Senate majority leader John Tune, Rs.D. said the measure is a step in the right direction, consistent with other priorities to eradicate waste, fraud and abuse within the federal government. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Democrats say cutting foreign aid is a victory for China and Russia, and that the package puts national security at stake. Furthermore, Democrats argue that employment for resignation of Republicans sets dangerous precedents that could put many programs at risk.
“If Republicans cut more American aid, they’ll create a dangerous void that the Chinese Communist Party will continue to fill with diligence,” Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., said on the Senate floor on July 15th.
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“If Republicans cut more American aid, they’ll create a dangerous void that the Chinese Communist Party will continue to fill with diligence,” Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., said on the Senate floor on July 15th. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
“They are using pocket rescues to curb the bipartisan spending process to break the law to steal funds that Congress has allocated. They do that with partisan votes,” Schumer said. “And that’s what they’re making Donald Trump decide which programs to refund, it puts everything at risk – healthcare, education, food aid, public health. Everything – everything at risk.
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Trump previously tried to advance a retirement package targeting foreign aid and public broadcasting funds during his first term in 2018, but after Collins and then Sen, he was unable to gain support in the Senate. Richard Burr of Rn.C. voted against it.
It was in 1999 that Congress last approved the retirement package.
Alex Miller of Fox News contributed to this report.
Diana Stancy is a political reporter for Fox News Digital, covering the White House.
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