Washington, D.C. – In a nail-biting 51-50 vote late Tuesday, the Senate advanced President Donald Trump’s $9.4 billion DOGE-inspired spending cuts package, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking ballot after taking personal charge of the effort. The measure, targeting foreign aid and public broadcasting funds, now heads to the House, sending Democrats into a full-throated meltdown over what they call a “reckless assault on essential services.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) credited Vance’s aggressive intervention for whipping GOP holdouts into line. “The vice president took over this case – he wouldn’t let up until we won,” Thune said post-vote, praising Vance’s Oval Office huddles that sealed the deal. The package, part of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, claws back $9.4 billion in previously approved spending, including $400 million from the global health program PEPFAR and funds for PBS and NPR. Republicans winnowed Trump’s original request to boost passage odds, but centrists like Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) joined Democrats in opposition, fearing cuts to rural radio and international influence.
Democrats erupted in fury. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) slammed his gavel during the session: “This isn’t cuts; it’s carnage for global health and American voices!” The bill’s passage via reconciliation overrides filibuster threats, excluding Democratic demands for health care subsidies. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) decried Vance as a “tech bro bully” engineering a “corporate takeover,” warning of hospital closures and rural devastation. “They can’t stop him – but we won’t forget,” she vowed on the Capitol steps.
Trump celebrated from Mar-a-Lago: “JD Vance is a warrior – DOGE is delivering!” The package now faces House scrutiny, where Speaker Mike Johnson fast-tracks it amid shutdown tensions. Economists project $18 billion in immediate savings but warn of GDP drags from furloughs. As midterms loom, Vance’s takeover symbolizes Trump’s unyielding grip: efficiency or evisceration? Democrats, outmaneuvered, plot revenge, but the cuts’ ink is already drying.
