Trump’s Rescissions Are the Next Step to Save Taxpayer Dollars

Following the Biden administration’s multi-trillion spending spree, which has pushed the national debt to $36.9 trillion, the government must tighten its belt and cut costs.  After the House passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and it moved to the Senate, President Trump took the next step in his efforts to cut waste, fraud, and abuse by submitting a $9.4 billion rescission package to Congress on June 3, 2025.

The proposal includes $1.1 billion in cuts for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which funds the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio, along with unnecessary and wasteful foreign aid spending.  Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) agrees with Sen. John Cornyn, who said this is a “good start” and “We need to do about one a month.”

The use of a rescissions package is challenging for any President.  According to the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, a president cannot refuse to spend (impound) congressionally appropriated funds unless Congress agrees to this decision.  Cutting spending that has been appropriated requires the submission of a rescissions proposal, after which Congress has 45 days to vote to approve.  Rescission legislation is filibuster-proof and only requires a simple majority in both chambers of Congress.  Congress can amend the provisions in the President’s proposal but cannot change the list of cuts or add more spending.  According to a July 16, 2020, Government Accountability Office report, since the enactment of the Congressional Budget Act, Congress has approved $25 billion out of the $92 billion in proposed rescissions.  President Trump proposed rescissions in his first term, but they were rejected by the Senate.

The $9.4 billion rescissions package includes programs that have been identified in CAGW’s 2024 Prime Cuts report, like international organizations and the CPB.  The next package could include more cuts to federal agencies whose functions should be purely private, like eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities, which would save $2 billion over five years.

Congress should quickly consider and approve the rescissions.  With a $36.9 trillion debt and interest on that debt the largest expenditure other than Social Security, the need for more and even larger rescissions packages is clear.