The White House dismissed comments that the Trump administration’s efforts to yank already approved federal funds for foreign aid and public broadcasting pose a public safety threat.
The rescissions package the Senate approved early Thursday pulls more than $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) that provides federal funding for NPR and PBS.
‘These are not honest news organizations,’ Leavitt told reporters Thursday. ‘These are partisan, left-wing outlets that are funded by the taxpayers. And this administration does not believe it’s a good use of the taxpayers’ time and money.’
PBS and NPR could not be immediately reached for comment by Fox News Digital.
Additionally, the rescissions package revokes nearly $8 billion in already approved funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which the Trump administration dismantled amid concerns the formerly independent organization did not advance U.S. interests. The organization is not part of the State Department.
The Senate narrowly approved the rescission measure, 51-48, which would revoke funding the Congress previously approved. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted alongside Democrats to oppose the package.
‘Look, $9 billion worth of crap that was in our federal funding is now being rescinded,’ Leavitt said. ‘This is a good thing for the American people and the American taxpayer.’
Republican lawmakers like Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., have touted the measure as a step toward ‘fiscal sanity’ as the Trump administration seeks to weed out waste, fraud and abuse.
‘I appreciate all the work the administration has done in identifying wasteful spending,’ Thune said in a speech ahead of the vote. ‘And now it’s time for the Senate to do its part to cut some of that waste out of the budget. It’s a small but important step toward fiscal sanity that we all should be able to agree is long overdue.’
But Democrats claim that the cuts to foreign aid benefit Russia and China, and that the rescission package jeopardizes national security. Likewise, Democrats are concerned that further rescissions could spread to areas beyond foreign aid and public broadcasting.
‘If Republicans slash more American aid, it will create a dangerous vacuum that the Chinese Communist Party will continue to eagerly fill,’ Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday on the Senate floor.
‘They’re letting Donald Trump decide for himself which programs to defund, and that puts everything at risk – healthcare, education, food assistance, public health,’ Schumer said. ‘Everything – everything – becomes at risk. That is what happens if a package like this is allowed to become law.’
Fox News’ Alex Miller contributed to this report.