Rescissions Act of 2025 (Senate passage)
House Bill, H.R. 4 (Senate passage)
What it did
The Rescissions Act of 2025 (H.R. 4), sponsored by Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), cancelled about $7.9 billion in foreign aid that Congress had already appropriated and $1.1 billion for public broadcasting, about $9 billion in all. The foreign-aid cuts fell on accounts run by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID): about $2.5 billion in development assistance, $1.3 billion in humanitarian aid, $1 billion in United Nations and peacekeeping contributions, and $500 million in global health programs.
The Senate removed a $400 million cut to PEPFAR and added language protecting HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, nutrition, and maternal and child health programs, along with Food for Peace. The rest went through. A Lancet study published June 30, 2025 projected that the USAID cuts as a whole would cause more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030, including 4.5 million children under five.
A yes vote cancelled the money. A no vote kept it.
The Senate passed the amended bill 51-48 on July 17, 2025, and the House accepted the Senate version the next day.
At the time of this vote, the Lancet projection of 14 million additional deaths by 2030 had been public for seventeen days.
Result: Passed 51-48
At the time of this vote: Lancet projection: 14,000,000 additional deaths by 2030 from the USAID cuts, including 4,500,000 children under five; WFP: 58,000,000 people at risk of losing food assistance in 2025
The humane vote: No (NAY)