White House formally sends its DOGE spending cuts request to Congress

Yahoo

2 days ago

The White House has sent its long-awaited spending cuts request to Congress as it seeks to formalize a slew of DOGE slashes to federal funding.
The $9.4 billion package – known as 'rescissions' on Capitol Hill – would claw back previously appropriated government funding. The move to cancel the funding through Congress would insulate the administration from legal challenges related to its cuts to federal funding.
As anticipated, the cuts target the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a small chunk of the federal budget that provides some public funding for NPR and PBS, as well as the United States Agency for International Development.
This initial request, however, is far more limited in scope than the more than $1 trillion in spending cuts that DOGE has promised. The lengthy time it took the White House to send over a first round of cuts underscores the uphill battle for even a Republican-led Congress to codify DOGE's work.
Congress will have 45 days after the White House submits the request to consider it. It can pass both the House and Senate with a simple majority, meaning it could clear the chambers without Democratic support.
House Speaker Mike Johnson vowed in statement Tuesday that 'the House will act quickly on this request.'
'This rescissions package reflects many of DOGE's findings and is one of the many legislative tools Republicans are using to restore fiscal sanity. 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,' Johnson said in part.
CNN has reached out to the Office of Management and Budget on the package. OMB Director Russell Vought told Fox News the administration is 'intending to be strategic, work with Congress, see what they're willing to do, and if they pass this, we'll send up many more.'
The Republican speaker had told reporters Monday that he expects there may be 'multiple' such packages coming to the hill in the next few months.
'It's a big priority for me,' Johnson said, adding that he didn't know yet if they would go through committee or come straight to the floor.
As with all things, the challenge for him will be muscling the package through the House with his narrow majority.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said ahead of the White House transmitting the package that it was his 'full expectation that, as has been the case up until this point, they will confront strong and unified Democratic opposition in the House, struggle to get any bill out of the House of Representatives, and then it's dead in the United States Senate.'
Trump has before sought to employ the maneuver to pull back funding. During his first administration, the Senate rejected a package that would have canceled $15 billion in unspent funds from the prior fiscal year.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN's Samantha Waldenberg, Veronica Stracqualursi and Annie Grayer contributed to this report.