Earlier, on Thursday, in a 51-48 Senate vote, only two Republicans voted against the funding cut.

This is the first time in decades that a presidential proposal to rescind spending has been successfully approved by the US Congress, marking a turning point in the Trump administration’s efforts to tighten federal spending.

Under the plan, the bill will eliminate 8 billion USD from various foreign aid programs, including emergency assistance for refugees and the provision of food and clean water to crisis-affected countries.

The move also scraps 1.1 billion USD that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was due to receive over the next two years.

Conservatives say the funding - which goes mostly to more than 1,500 local public radio and TV stations, as well as to public broadcasters NPR and PBS - is unnecessary and has funded biased coverage.

Democrats strongly criticized the spending cut package, arguing that it undermines Congress’s fiscal oversight role, damages the US’s soft power on the international stage, and hampers access to vital information, especially in rural areas.