SCOOP: House Freedom Caucus draws battle lines as White House readies $9.4B DOGE spending cuts

Yahoo

02-06-2025

FIRST ON FOX: The House Freedom Caucus is demanding the House of Representatives vote on the White House's impending $9.4 billion federal spending cut proposal the same week it lands on Capitol Hill.
The conservative group, led by Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., is drawing its line in the sand on Monday with an official position on the coming package, which is expected to call for clawing back government funding for NPR, PBS and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
"When the White House submits its first rescissions package to enact [Department of Government Efficiency] spending cuts to Congress, the House of Representatives should immediately move this to the floor for swift passage," the Freedom Caucus position said.
"The House Freedom Caucus strongly supports these critical rescissions, and we will support as many more rescissions packages as the White House can send us in the coming weeks and months. These first DOGE cuts target taxpayer-funded public broadcasters notorious for their liberal bias like NPR and PBS, as well as billions in wasteful foreign aid dollars."
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It comes as Elon Musk's time leading President Donald Trump's DOGE effort comes to an end, with the tech billionaire shifting his focus back to Tesla and his other private ventures after his billions of dollars in proposed spending cuts drove a partisan wedge through Congress.
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"Passing this rescissions package will be an important demonstration of Congress' willingness to deliver on DOGE and the Trump agenda," the statement continued.
"While the Swamp will inevitably attempt to slow and kill these cuts, there is no excuse for a Republican House not to advance the first DOGE rescissions package the same week it is presented to Congress then quickly send it for passage in the Republican Senate, so President Trump can sign it into law."
The White House is expected to send its $9.4 billion spending cuts package to Congress on Tuesday.
The proposal is called a "rescissions package," a vehicle for the president to block funds that were already allocated by Congress in its yearly appropriations process. Once transmitted to Capitol Hill, lawmakers have 45 days to take it up before it's voided.
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And GOP officials have made clear that it's the first of several such proposals that could come from the White House.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told Fox News Channel last week that there will "100%" be further rescissions packages coming from the White House.
Bringing the first package to a House-wide vote within a week would require quick political maneuvering.
Under House GOP conference rules, lawmakers must get 72 hours to read a bill before the chamber weighs in – a provision that conservatives also fought for – putting a possible vote on Friday at the earliest and possible into the weekend.
But the House Freedom Caucus is not the only GOP group pushing for a swift vote. Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, said on Friday, "This brings fairness and accountability back to taxpayers who are sick of funding government waste while making progress towards our crushing $36 trillion national debt. Congress must promptly cement these cuts in law through rescissions and the FY26 appropriations bills."
It comes just over a week after House Republicans pushed through Trump's multitrillion-dollar tax and immigration bill via the budget reconciliation process.
That bill is now being considered by the Senate, and will have to go back to the House if the upper chamber makes any changes.
Republican leaders are hoping to have that bill on Trump's desk by Fourth of July.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., noted both deadlines in an appearance on NBC News' "Meet The Press" on Sunday.
"We're going to have a second budget reconciliation bill that follows after this, and we're beginning next week the appropriations process, which is the spending bills for government. And you're going to see a lot of the DOGE cuts and a lot of this new fiscal restraint reflected in what Congress does next. So stay tuned, this is not the end-all, be-all," he said of the reconciliation bill.
Johnson said on X Friday that "Congress is working with the White House to codify DOGE savings to stop government misuse and misspending of our tax dollars."Original article source: SCOOP: House Freedom Caucus draws battle lines as White House readies $9.4B DOGE spending cuts