Vice President JD Vance stepped into the spotlight Tuesday, casting two decisive tie-breaking votes in the U.S. Senate to move forward a sweeping $9.4 billion rescissions plan that would eliminate taxpayer funding for far-left media outlets NPR and PBS.

With the Senate split 50-50 on two critical procedural votes, Vance delivered the final push needed to advance the House-passed legislation—a clear win for fiscal conservatives and defenders of media accountability.

The measure targets bloated bureaucracies and wasteful spending, axing $8.3 billion from the scandal-ridden U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which for decades has funneled federal dollars to the left-leaning NPR and PBS.

Notably, three Senate Republicans—Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Susan Collins (R-ME)—broke with their party and sided with Democrats to oppose the plan, raising eyebrows among the conservative grassroots.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said GOP leadership worked closely with White House officials, including Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought, to fine-tune the bill.

“There was a lot of interest from our members on doing something on PEPFAR,” Thune told reporters, referring to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. A $400 million reduction originally included in the bill is expected to be removed through amendment.

Thune noted that, with that minor change, “the package ends up making the rescissions package about $9 billion” and hoped the House would accept the Senate’s adjustment.

Sen. Susan Collins attempted to justify her opposition by complaining that OMB failed to detail which specific programs would be affected by the clawbacks. “The rescissions package has a big problem — nobody really knows what program reductions are in it,” she claimed, echoing talking points from liberal appropriators.

Collins also bizarrely defended taxpayer subsidies to PBS by citing programs like “Antiques Roadshow” and “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” as essential viewing. She further argued that federal CPB funding supports Maine’s emergency alert system and broadcasts of high school sports—failing to mention that all of these services could be provided through private or state-level funding.

“I share the frustration with the biased reporting by NPR, and I would support defunding it,” Collins said. “Nevertheless, local TV and radio stations continue to provide important coverage.” Critics say that’s a contradiction—acknowledging bias while defending its public funding.

The push to eliminate federal subsidies for NPR gained new traction after its CEO, Katherine Maher, was grilled by Republican lawmakers during a House hearing on government efficiency. Maher—who has previously described the First Amendment as an “obstacle to journalism”—was confronted over the organization’s glaring political imbalance.

Rep. William Timmons (R-SC) revealed that NPR employs 87 registered Democrats and zero registered Republicans on its editorial team. Maher called the figure “concerning,” but denied it affects coverage—an assertion many conservatives see as flatly dishonest.

Liberal HBO host Bill Maher (no relation to the NPR executive) even sided with conservatives after watching the hearing. During his CNN “Overtime” segment, Maher said the testimony made a compelling case for privatizing both NPR and PBS.

He blasted the idea that such partisan staffers could maintain journalistic objectivity, saying, “You can’t be that lopsided politically and then pretend you’re neutral. That’s insulting.”

The rescissions package—narrowly passed by the House in June, 214-212—now heads toward a final Senate vote after 10 hours of mandatory debate and amendment discussions. If it clears the chamber, the House will need to sign off on the modified version.

President Trump has made defunding radical media a signature issue of his second term. Conservatives see this vote as a long-overdue step in reining in runaway spending and ending taxpayer support for institutions that mock American values, undermine national sovereignty, and peddle far-left propaganda under the guise of “public service.”