Washington: US President Donald Trump signed a rescissions bill cutting $9 billion in already allocated foreign aid and public broadcasting funding, marking the first time in decades that Congress has granted a president's request to revoke previously approved funds, CBS News reported. White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said on social media late Thursday that the bill was "officially signed."

According to Anadolu Agency, the bill includes a cut of about $8 billion from foreign aid programs, including the US Agency for International Development (USAID), after moves to reduce the agency's budget faced widespread criticism. Additionally, the plan cuts around $1 billion in financing for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports public television and radio networks, including PBS and NPR.

Some Republican senators expressed reluctance to support the final passage in the upper chamber, but in the end, all but two of them did so. The final version of the package eliminated $400 million in cuts to AIDS relief funds in an attempt to appease some critics.

The administration also pledged to provide additional financing to mitigate the cuts to rural public broadcasting to gain support. Many such stations are the only source of local news and emergency bulletins in areas lacking other local outlets, and also suffer from spotty internet and cellphone coverage.

In May, President Trump signed an executive order reducing federal funding for media outlets NPR and PBS, claiming they are biased- a charge public broadcasting providers reject. The initial spending cut package was approved by the House on June 12.

However, the bill sparked controversy in the Senate, particularly among Democrats, who argued that the cuts to foreign aid would lead to more deaths worldwide and damage the US's standing in the global community. They added that in the absence of US aid for health and development, global actors such as China would move in and try to take advantage. The bill was passed by the Senate and then by the House on July 18.