Washington DC - President Donald Trump asked Congress to codify Elon Musk's brutal cuts and withhold some $9 billion approved for foreign aid and public broadcasting.

A package of measures taken by Trump and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency – led until recently by Musk – was presented to Congress on Tuesday by the Office of Management and Budget.

It formally asks for more than $9.4 billion that had already been approved by both chambers of Congress for foreign aid projects, as well as for NPR and PBS, to be withheld.

The move came days after Musk exited the Trump administration having only reached $180 billion of his original goal of $1 trillion cuts in spending, by DOGE's own estimates.

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Congress has the ultimate say on whether to accept or reject the president's request, and must do so within 45 days.

"This rescissions package reflects many of DOGE’s findings and is one of the many legislative tools Republicans are using to restore fiscal sanity," said House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday in a post on X.

"Congress will continue working closely with the White House to codify these recommendations, and the House will bring the package to the floor as quickly as possible."

But Maine Senator Susan Collins, a frequent Republican critic of Trump, said she would not support some of the cuts presented in the package, and noted that the request to rescind previously approved funding was highly unusual.

"It's extremely complex in the rules, because there hasn't been a successful rescission package in many, many years," she said, per Politico.