Latest news with #rescission
Fox News
an hour ago
- Business
- Fox News
GOP unveils new weapon to help slash billions in government waste as Republicans rally behind Trump's plan
Congressional Republicans are racing to harness the momentum left behind by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and the leaders of a new House GOP initiative are hoping they have the solution. "You tell people the word 'rescission,' in my district, I'm sure that polls pretty low, but they know waste, they know fraud, and they know abuse," Rep. Riley Moore, told Fox News Digital. "This is why this process needs to be not only explained to our own members, but also to the population out here that might not know what the heck a rescission is, but know that they want the wasteful spending to end." Moore is leading the Republican Study Committee's (RSC) new task force, aimed at getting both fellow House Republicans and members of the American public on board with the GOP on a mechanism for spending cuts known as rescissions. Rescissions proposals are requests from the White House for cuts to funding already approved by Congress in the current fiscal year. Once submitted to Capitol Hill, lawmakers have 45 days to pass the proposal, or it is considered rejected. The House is voting on the first of what Republican leaders hope are several such proposals this week – President Donald Trump sent Congress a request to cut $9.4 billion in funding to PBS, NPR, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The $9.4 billion figure is part of a larger $180 billion sum of waste that Musk said his DOGE efforts had uncovered. RSC Chair August Pfluger, R-Texas, said Moore "is able to educate our members, work with the White House, liaise directly with [the Office of Management and Budget], talk to leadership, voice the conservative concerns…and to dispel myth and speak truth." Pfluger's 189-member RSC serves as a de facto conservative think tank of sorts for the House GOP. It's a natural extension of the group's work to focus on how to message government spending cuts, particularly while Democrats are accusing the GOP of trying to rip away critical programs. Pfluger and Moore signaled the task force's most immediate goal will be easing concerns of moderate Republicans who may be wary of the $9.4 billion spending cut plan. With just a razor-thin majority, House GOP leaders can afford no more than three defections to pass legislation along party lines. "If members do have problems, the conservative conscience of our conference, RSC, can help them understand why it's important to vote on it. And that's what Riley is going to do," Pfluger said. Both suggested they would like to see future rescissions packages, but would not go into detail about what could be cut. Moore noted he was on the Appropriations Committee, the keepers of the House's purse strings, and that there were ongoing conversations between members of that panel and the White House about identifying future rollbacks. And both Pfluger and Moore said they were undaunted by Musk's somewhat dramatic departure from the federal government – insisting the public was still behind the idea of DOGE, even without the Tesla billionaire at the forefront. "I don't think the mainstream media is covering that aspect of it, because they want to talk about this breakup between the president and Elon Musk, but the president said as recently as today that he still believes in what he did," Pfluger said. Moore added, "Media cycles moved extraordinarily fast. I think obviously there was a lot of excitement when it was first announced. But I can tell you when I'm doing Lincoln Day dinners and going around the counties in West Virginia, they're still acutely focused on this. I hear from folks all the time…it is very much the average American still wants to see this happen." "I think they're, you know, they're just waiting for us to do the right thing," Moore said.
Washington Post
7 days ago
- Business
- Washington Post
Trump formally asks Congress to claw back approved spending targeted by DOGE
WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday officially asked Congress to claw back $9.4 billion in already approved spending, taking funding away from programs targeted by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. It's a process known as 'rescission,' which requires President Donald Trump to get approval from Congress to return money that had previously been appropriated. Trump's aides say the funding cuts target programs that promote liberal ideologies.
Associated Press
7 days ago
- Business
- Associated Press
Trump formally asks Congress to claw back approved spending targeted by DOGE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Tuesday officially asked Congress to claw back $9.4 billion in already approved spending, taking funding away from programs targeted by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. It's a process known as 'rescission,' which requires President Donald Trump to get approval from Congress to return money that had previously been appropriated. Trump's aides say the funding cuts target programs that promote liberal ideologies. The request, if it passes the House and Senate, would formally enshrine many of the spending cuts and freezes sought by DOGE. It comes at a time when Musk is extremely unhappy with the tax cut and spending plan making its way through Congress, calling it on Tuesday a 'disgusting abomination' for increasing the federal deficit. Here's what to know about the rescissions request: Will the rescissions make a dent in the national debt? The request to Congress is unlikely to meaningfully change the troublesome increase in the U.S. national debt. Tax revenues have been insufficient to cover the growing costs of Social Security, Medicare and other programs. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the government is on track to spend roughly $7 trillion this year, with the rescission request equaling just 0.1% of that total. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at Tuesday's briefing that White House budget director Russ Vought — a 'well-respected fiscal hawk,' she called him — would continue to cut spending, hinting that there could be additional efforts to return funds. 'He has tools at his disposal to produce even more savings,' Leavitt said. What programs are targeted by the rescissions? A spokesperson for the White House Office of Management and Budget, speaking on condition of anonymity to preview some of the items that would lose funding, said that $8.3 billion was being cut from the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development. NPR and PBS would also lose federal funding. The spokesperson listed specific programs that the Trump administration considered wasteful, including $750,000 to reduce xenophobia in Venezuela, $67,000 for feeding insect powder to children in Madagascar and $3 million for circumcision, vasectomies and condoms in Zambia. Is the rescissions package likely to get passed? Members of the House Freedom Caucus, among the chamber's most conservative lawmakers, are calling on House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to immediately bring the rescissions package to the floor 'for swift passage.' 'We will support as many more rescissions packages the White House can send us in the coming weeks and months,' the group said in a press release. 'Passing this rescissions package will be an important demonstration of Congress's willingness to deliver on DOGE and the Trump agenda.' Why does the administration need Congress' approval? The White House's request to return appropriated funds is meant to comply with the 1974 Impoundment Control Act. That law created the process by which the president can formally disclose to Congress the appropriated money it intends to not spend. Congress then has 45 days to review and approve the request. Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, said in an emailed statement that the Trump administration was already 'illegally impounding additional funds,' as withholding money has 'always been illegal without explicit Congressional approval.' On CNN on Sunday, Vought insisted that the Trump administration was complying with the law, but it simply had a different view of the law relative to some Democrats. 'We're not breaking the law,' Vought said. 'Every part of the federal government, each branch, has to look at the Constitution themselves and uphold it, and there's tension between the branches.'
