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Trump’s modest spending cuts package survives narrow Senate vote as some Republicans break ranks
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What can you get for $9.4 billion?
3G Capital recently purchased footwear giant Skechers for $9.4 billion.
$9.4 billion could cover your rent for a pretty nice apartment in New York City for more than 40,000 years.
Yes, it will just be you and the cockroaches by then.
Or, you could pay the cost of every major disaster in the past four decades – ranging from Chernobyl to Fukushima to Hurricane Sandy.
‘LONG OVERDUE’: SENATE REPUBLICANS RAM THROUGH TRUMP’S CLAWBACK PACKAGE WITH CUTS TO FOREIGN AID, NPR
But $9.4 billion isn’t a lot when cast against nearly $7 trillion in annual spending by the federal government.
And it’s really not much money when you consider that the U.S. is about slip into the red to the tune of $37 trillion.
Which brings us to the Congressional plan to cancel spending. That is, a measure from Republicans and the Trump Administration to rescind spending lawmakers already appropriated in March. The House and Senate are now clawing back money lawmakers shoved out the door for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and foreign aid programs under USAID. The original proposal cut $9.4 billion. But that figure dwindled to $9 billion – after the Senate restored money for «PEPFAR,» a President George W. Bush era program to combat AIDS worldwide.
In other words, you may have a couple thousand years lopped off from your rent-controlled apartment in New York City. Of course that hinges on what Democratic mayoral nominee Zorhan Mamdani decides to do, should he win election this fall.
Anyway, back to Congressional spending. Or «un-spending.»
The House passed the original version of the bill in June, 216-214. Flip one vote and the bill would have failed on a 215-215 tie. Then it was on to the Senate. Republicans had to summon Vice President Vance to Capitol Hill to break a logjam on two procedural votes to send the spending cancellation bill to the floor and actually launch debate. Republicans have a 53-47 advantage in the Senate. But former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., along with Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska and Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted nay – producing a 50-50 tie.
Fox is told some Senate Republicans are tiring of McConnell opposing the GOP – and President Trump – on various issues. That includes the nay votes to start debate on the spending cancellation bill as well as his vote against the confirmation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in January.
«He used to be the Leader. He was always telling us we need to stick together,» said one GOP senator who requested anonymity. «Now he’s off voting however he wants? How time flies.»
Note that McConnell led Senate Republicans as recently as early January.
But McConnell ultimately voted for the legislation when the Senate approved it 51-48 at 2:28 am ET Thursday morning.
Murkowski and Collins were the only noes. The services of Vice President Vance weren’t needed due to McConnell’s aye vote and the absence of Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn. She fell ill and was admitted to George Washington Hospital for exhaustion.
As for the senior senator from Alaska, one GOP senator characterized it as «Murkowski fatigue.»
«She always asking. She’s always wanting more,» groused a Senate Republican.
Murkowski secured an agreement on rural hospitals in exchange for her vote in favor of the Big, Beautiful Bill earlier this month. However, Murkowski did not secure more specificity on the DOGE cuts or help with rural, public radio stations in Alaska on the spending cut plan.
SENATE TO DEBATE TRUMP’S $9B CLAWBACK BILL AFTER DRAMATIC LATE-NIGHT VOTES
«My vote is guided by the imperative of coming from Alaskans. I have a vote that I am free to cast, with or without the support of the President. My obligation is to my constituents and to the Constitution,» said Murkowski. «I don’t disagree that NPR over the years has tilted more partisan. That can be addressed. But you don’t need to gut the entire Corporation for Public Broadcasting.»
In a statement, Collins blasted the Trump administration for a lack of specificity about the precision of the rescissions request. Collins, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee in charge of the federal purse strings, also criticized the administration a few months ago for a paucity of detail in the President’s budget.
«The rescissions package has a big problem – nobody really knows what program reductions are in it. That isn’t because we haven’t had time to review the bill,» said Collins in a statement. «Instead, the problem is that OMB (the Office of Management and Budget) has never provided the details that would normally be part of this process.»
Collins wasn’t the only Republican senator who worried about how the administration presented the spending cut package to Congress. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., fretted about Congress ceding the power of the purse to the administration. But unlike Collins, Wicker supported the package.
Director of the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Russell (Russ) Vought speaks to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House on July 17, 2025, in Washington, DC. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS)
«If we do this again, please give us specific information about where the cuts will come. Let’s not make a habit of this,» said Wicker. «If you come back to us again from the executive branch, give us the specific amounts in the specific programs that will be cut.»
DOGE recommended the cuts. In fact, most of the spending reductions targeted by DOGE don’t go into effect unless Congress acts. But even the $9.4 billion proved challenging to cut.
«We should be able to do that in our sleep. But there is looking like there’s enough opposition,» said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Fox Business.
So to court votes, GOP leaders salvaged $400 million for PEPFAR.
«There was a lot of interest among our members in doing something on the PEPFAR issue,» said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. «You’re still talking about a $9 billion rescissions package – even with that small modification.»
The aim to silence public broadcasting buoyed some Republicans.
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«North Dakota Public Radio – about 26% of their budget is federal funding. To me, that’s more of an indictment than it is a need,» said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.
But back to the $9 billion. It’s a fraction of one-tenth of one percent of all federal funding. And DOGE recommended more than a trillion dollars in cuts.
«What does this say for the party if it can’t even pass this bill, this piddling amount of money?» yours truly asked Sen. John Kennedy, R-La.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, arrives to speak to members of the media at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, July 17, 2025. Republicans are set to succeed in their decades-long quest to end federal funding for public broadcasting after the Senate passed a $9 billion package of cuts derived from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency effort. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
«I think we’re going to lose a lot of credibility. And we should,» replied Kennedy.
But the House needed to sync up with the Senate since it changed the bill – stripping the cut for AIDS funding. House conservatives weren’t pleased that the Senate was jamming them again – just two weeks after major renovations to the House version of the Big, Beautiful Bill. But they accepted their fate.
«It’s disappointing that we’re $37 trillion in debt. This to me was low-hanging fruit,» said Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo. «At the end of the day, I’ll take a base hit, right? It’s better than nothing.»
White House Budget Director Russ Vought is expected to send other spending cancellation requests to Congress in the coming months. The aim is to target deeper spending reductions recommended by DOGE.
But it doesn’t auger well for future rescissions bills if it’s this much of a battle to trim $9 trillion.
What can you get for that much money? For Republicans, it’s not much.
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Republicans were swinging for the fences with spending cuts.
But in the political box score, this is recorded as just a base hit.
INTERNACIONAL
Lo que hay que saber sobre los archivos Epstein: una receta perfecta para las teorías conspirativas
¿Cuál es el origen del caso?
¿Por qué la investigación de Epstein es la fuente de tantas teorías conspirativas?
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New York City socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has remained silent almost two days after an off-duty Border Patrol officer was shot in the face, allegedly by a previously deported illegal immigrant in his city.
Mamdani’s social media posts and website show no public statement on the matter, which has become national news and sparked a broader discussion of President Joe Biden’s border policies and criticism of sanctuary cities.
Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani’s campaign for comment but did not immediately hear back.
According to police, the suspect, Dominican national Miguel Francisco Mora Nunez, was seen on video getting off a scooter before approaching the officer while he was sitting and speaking to someone near a body of water. The officer has not yet been identified.
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Zohran Mamdani has not issued a statement on the shooting of a Border Patrol officer. (Department of Homeland Security/Getty)
The officer, who was not in uniform, pulled out a gun to protect himself, and a shootout ensued.
The agent was hit in the face and forearm and transported to a hospital, where he is currently in stable condition. He is expected to survive.
Nunez was shot in the leg and groin during the shootout, police said. He was dropped off at a hospital in the Bronx, according to authorities.
«Sanctuary politicians must condemn this violence and put the safety and security of our citizens first. Make no mistake: these criminal illegal aliens pulled the trigger, but Zohran Mamdani, and other sanctuary politicians in this country have blood on their hands,» Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital in a statement.
«Secretary Noem is calling on every politician at every level of government to abandon these reckless, lawless policies and stop playing Russian roulette with American lives. DHS will continue to flood the zone in sanctuary cities and remove these criminals one by one,» she added.
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Mamdani briefly speaks with reporters as he leaves the Dirksen Senate Office Building on July 16, 2025, in Washington. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
DHS also told Fox News that Nunez has an active warrant for kidnapping in the state of Massachusetts, in addition to prior felony arrests.
«We were able to bring the second individual in and have detained him as well, and he will face consequences and hopefully strong prosecution for his crimes and his involvement on Saturday night,» Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters Monday.
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President Donald Trump weighed in on the shooting Sunday afternoon, writing that «an incredible CBP Officer was shot in the face by an Illegal Alien Monster freed into the Country under Joe Biden.»
Mamdani has been widely criticized for his previous calls to defund the police and his stated opposition to working with Trump to deport illegal immigrants if he is elected mayor in November.
Mamdani said in June after winning the primary race that he would halt «masked» U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials from «deporting our neighbors.»
Mamdani speaks during a press conference while campaigning outside a subway station in New York City on April 1, 2025. (Reuters/Brendan McDermid)
The mayoral hopeful announced on Sunday that he was headed to Uganda «in a personal capacity» to celebrate his marriage to his wife, Rama, with their family and friends.
«I do want to apologize to the haters, because I will be coming back,» he said, adding he would return to New York City «by the end of the month.»
Federal immigration authorities have faced an increase in public scrutiny from Democrats and left-wing activist groups, even to the point of violence. Border Patrol was targeted in an ambush earlier this month at an annex facility in McAllen, Texas, in which a local police officer was hit in the leg, and two Border Patrol personnel were injured. The gunman was killed.
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In addition, 12 individuals are facing charges, including 10 for attempted murder of federal officers, in an Independence Day attack outside the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, intended to target ICE agents. A police officer was shot in the neck but is expected to recover, and cars were vandalized.
Overall, ICE agents have faced an 830% increase in assaults since this time last year as the Trump administration continues to ramp up deportation and immigration enforcement efforts, according to DHS.
«Rocks, Molotov cocktails, and even gunfire. Our brave ICE agents are facing attacks at a level never seen before in America – an 830% increase. Stand for the homeland. Stand for law and order. Stand with ICE,» Homeland Security posted to X last week.
Fox News Digital reached out to ICE and CBP for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Fox News Digital’s Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
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UK backs Trump’s Putin ultimatum with urgent ’50-day drive’ to strengthen Ukraine’s position
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In a direct response to President Donald Trump’s 50-day deadline that he issued to Russian President Vladimir Putin in his latest peace deal push, the U.K. on Monday announced a «50-day drive» to better arm Ukraine.
The call to action was issued by U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey during a virtual meeting with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) on Monday, the British Ministry of Defense announced.
The Defense Ministry did not immediately answer Fox News’ Digital’s questions about what type of commitments Healey wants to see from allied nations in support of Kyiv.
Prior to the meeting of NATO member states’ defense ministers, a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group was held at NATO headquarters in Brussels on June 4, 2025. (BOB REIJNDERS/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
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At the top of the meeting, the British defense secretary said «[Trump] started the clock on a 50-day deadline for Putin to agree to peace or to face crippling economic sanctions.
«And as members of this UDCG, we need to step up in turn with a 50-day drive to arm Ukraine on the battlefield and to help push Putin to the negotiating table,» he added.
Healey urged nations to utilize the NATO sales agreement announced by Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte last week to more quickly and efficiently arm Ukraine on the battlefield.
President Donald Trump, right, and Mark Rutte, secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, shake hands during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Monday, July 14, 2025. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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While the U.S.-NATO sales agreement is not an unusual deal as Washington, D.C., for decades has sold its arms to NATO allies, the announcement was significant because it signaled a turning point in the U.S.’s continued support for Ukraine, which has remained a question since Trump was re-elected in November.
«We sell arms to allies all the time and if they want to give them to Ukraine then we authorize an export license, and they then transfer the arms to Ukraine,» Mike Ryan, who formally served as deputy assistant secretary of Defense for European and NATO Policy, told Fox News Digital. «So, the significance is that one, the Europeans are stepping up their support for Ukraine. Two, the American taxpayer is getting a break. Three, Europe is buying more American arms [which is] good for the trade deficit, and four, Ukraine is getting the help it needs.»
Ukrainian and German soldiers are seen training on the Patriot air defense missile system at a military training area in Germany in June 2024. (Jens Büttner/picture alliance via Getty Images)
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The Monday meeting will be the fourth time Healey has chaired the defensive group in support of Kyiv, and the third such event that he has done so alongside German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.
A major point of discussion is expected to be the quick transfer of Patriot Battery Missiles for Ukraine – five of which Berlin is set to confirm shipment of on Monday following his meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week.
«Boris and I have agreed to partner in providing critical air defense missiles to Ukraine,» Healey said before announcing a near $54 million defensive pledge to Ukraine, and by extension, Europe’s security.
The announcement is on top of the more than $6 billion in military aid the U.K. has sent Ukraine this year alone.
«This is a critical moment we meet at a critical time, a time for all allies and partners to share the burden, to support Ukraine, both in the fight now and to secure the peace future,» Healey added.
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