After years of watching Congress fuel a never-ending spending spree that weakens our economy and mocks the values of hardworking Americans, President Donald J. Trump has just secured a major win with the successful passage of his rescission package. I proudly cast my vote in favor of this package alongside my Republican colleagues not just because it eliminates billions in bloated, ideologically driven programs, but because it sends a thunderous message to Washington: the era of reckless spending is coming to an end.
Let’s be clear about what this package achieves. Wasteful and unnecessary spending has been slashed by targeting programs that long ago strayed from their original missions and morphed into vehicles for left-wing activism and globalist interference.
We’ve defunded the World Health Organization, whose COVID-era propaganda echoed Beijing instead of defending global health. We’ve removed funding for radical LGBTQI+ and “equity” initiatives, for climate schemes inspired by the Green New Deal, and for “color revolutions” in adversarial nations, all of which had no business being subsidized by the American taxpayer in the first place.
This is common sense. Hardworking Americans should not be forced to bankroll ideological crusades that undermine our national interests and moral fabric.
Consider the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the parent of NPR and PBS. For too long, CPB has received public funds while acting as an unapologetic mouthpiece for the Left, pushing race-based programming, COVID misinformation, and hostility toward conservative viewpoints. It is not a public service. It is propaganda. If the Left wants their megaphone, they can pay for it themselves.
The rescission package also takes long-overdue action against the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which has transformed into a slush fund for exporting woke ideology. What was supposed to be a tool for economic development has become a vehicle for pushing leftist social experiments overseas, funding LGBTQ+ programs in Hungary, Bulgaria, and Africa. Programs that Americans never asked for and don’t support.
This was never just about trimming fat. It is about realigning our national priorities.
As President Trump stated in his official message to Congress, this package "eliminates programs that are antithetical to American interests." He is absolutely right.
Why were we ever sending taxpayer dollars to support foreign NGOs that divide communities with radical gender ideology? Why were we subsidizing climate projects that crush American jobs and enrich our adversaries? These are not minor budget items. They are symptoms of a deeper rot in Washington’s spending culture.
And the American people have had enough.
Naturally, the usual suspects are up in arms. Bureaucrats, activist nonprofits, and media elites are in full panic mode now that their taxpayer-funded piggy banks are drying up. Their hysteria only proves how deeply entrenched these bad policies have become and how necessary it was to take the axe to them.
What makes this victory even more impactful is how it was achieved. Unlike most major spending reforms, this package did not require a supermajority in the Senate. A simple majority was enough to push it across the finish line, a clear sign that when Republicans fight with focus and unity, we win.
But make no mistake. This is only the beginning.
President Trump’s rescission victory will not solve every fiscal challenge overnight. But it draws a bold line in the sand. No more blank checks for global bureaucracies. No more subsidies for anti-American causes. No more funding leftist pet projects under the guise of diplomacy or “equity.”
This was a first strike. And it was a successful one.
If Congress is serious about serving the American people, not special interests, not international elites, and not ideological zealots, then this victory must be the model moving forward. A return to fiscal sanity. A renewed commitment to national sovereignty. And a clear embrace of unapologetic American values.
President Trump is leading the charge. I was proud to vote with him. And I will continue standing with him as we bring common sense and accountability back to Washington, one cut at a time.
Rep. Abraham J. Hamadeh serves in the U.S. House of Representatives on behalf of Arizona’s 8th Congressional District.