House Republicans push for spending cancellations as Elon Musk and conservatives demand deeper budget cuts

And you thought you had just figured out what reconciliation means in Congressional budget terms Here s a new vocabulary term rescissions You might not be able to spell it But I can tell you what it does A rescissions bill rescinds money which Congress has already allocated ex post facto For simplicity I often describe rescissions decree as spending cancellations Congress appropriated money Then under a recissions bill Congress claws back dollars it previously appropriated It s kind of like a reverse appropriation And you thought that in elementary school there were no takebacks TRUMP SENDS BILLION DOGE CUTS PROPOSAL TO CONGRESS TARGETING NPR PBSPresidential administrations send budget requests to Congress This is the opposite An administration can send a recissions request to Congress too And that s what Budget Director Russ Vought is doing this week House Speaker Mike Johnson R-La is intent on moving fast I'd like to turn it around as speedily as viable declared Johnson There may be multiple rescissions packages coming and we ll process them as speedily as we can It s a big priority for me Congressional conservatives and Elon Musk were not pleased with the relative paucity of spending cuts in the Big Beautiful Bill Musk explained CBS he was disappointed in the measure Which increases the budget deficit not decreases it And it undermines the work that the DOGE crew is doing disclosed Musk about the hallmark of President Trump s agenda By Tuesday morning the world s richest man incinerated the bill on X and chastised the greater part Republicans in Congress Musk characterized the provision as a disgusting abomination He lectured the House Republicans who voted yes declaring you know you did wrong SCOOP HOUSE FREEDOM CAUCUS DRAWS BATTLE LINES AS WHITE HOUSE READIES B DOGE SPENDING CUTSDOGE initially set a goal of unearthing trillion in spending cuts It then slashed the threshold to trillion DOGE eventually homed in on about billion in cuts by the end of next year And numerous of those cuts aren t even in effect because Congress has the power of the purse That s where Congress comes in with a possible rescissions package Greater part Republicans are appreciative of the efforts by DOGE and Musk I think this is the beginning and the whole conversation in Congress is changed because of it stated Rep Mike Flood R-Neb on Fox But DOGE evaluated discretionary spending Congress has the discretion to spend or not spend certain money each year That comes through the annual appropriations process That s why GOPers are now using their discretion They intend to unwind specific of that spending with a rescission plan But the largest percentage of federal spending by about two to one is tied to entitlements like Medicare Medicaid and Social Safety plus interest on the debt That spending is called mandatory House Republicans tried to address that slightly in the Big Beautiful Bill since it dealt with Medicaid spending But cuts to federal departments lie in the appropriations realm and falls on the discretionary side of the ledger However discretionary cuts via the Big Beautiful Bill weren t going to happen Much of what DOGE has looked at is the discretionary spending stated Flood This is far more complicated than just doing it in reconciliation WHITE HOUSE SENDING BILLION DOGE CUTS PACKAGE TO CONGRESS NEXT WEEKAnd so here we are with Republicans in Congress looking at the first major rescissions plan since The House Freedom Caucus strongly supports these critical rescissions and we will help as a multitude of more rescissions packages the White House can send us in the coming weeks and months explained the Freedom Caucus in a message 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 promptly send it for passage in the Republican Senate so President Trump can sign it into law The law requires the president to spend money which Congress approves However there are specific loopholes where a President can impound money and not spend it GOP REBELS FIRE WARNING SHOT IN SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN NO DOGE NO DEALOn CNN Vought suggested that the Impoundment Control Act of allows for a procedure called pocket rescissions later in the year to be able to bank several of these savings without the bill truly being passed Vought signaled that President Trump would likely lean on that tool But he wants to start with an initial rescissions request A recissions plan requires a simple majority to pass the House And believe it or not a simple majority in the Senate There s no -vote requirement to break a filibuster Moreover the motion to proceed to start debate on a recessions package is privileged That means the Senate only demands votes to begin the process Various motions to proceed in the Senate need yeas and can be subject to a filibuster President Trump formally routed his recissions request to Capitol Hill on Tuesday It aims to trim billion dollars from population broadcasting and foreign aid programs All of this is money which Musk targeted in his DOGE reviews But these cuts only count if Congress approves them I want make sure you take the first tranche and see if it passes disclosed Vought on the targeted set of proposed spending reductions The wider you do in terms of a package the harder it is to pass And if it doesn't pass this is the real world And we will lose flexibility that we have to use executive tools to find other avenues to make the DOGE cuts permanent SPEAKER JOHNSON SETS EYES ON CUTTING CABINET SPENDING VOWS TO TAKE A 'BLOWTORCH' TO THE 'REGULATORY STATE'Lawmakers are starting to process the rescissions proposal Especially since Republicans often talk a good tournament about slashing spending We'll see if Congress can step up to the plate mentioned Rep Chip Roy R-Tex noting the political consequences of not green lighting the rescissions package Members will have to go campaign on why they want to continue to fund PBS NPR and a whole bunch of foreign approach and foreign funding that greater part Americans don't like So you go explain it Rep Don Bacon R-Neb represents one of the most-Democratic leaning districts in the country He worries about the PBS and NPR cuts I have a great rapport with Nebraska Constituents Radio and TV I think they've been great to work with And so that would be one I hope they don't put in reported Bacon Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins R-Maine flagged reductions to PEPFAR short for the President s Urgency Plan for AIDS Relief I consider that to be possibly the most of prosperous masses fitness operation that has ever been used in Africa and other parts of the world So I do not promotion the reduction in PEPFAR announced Collins It s unclear whether this opening bid to cut spending minimal as it is can make it through Congress Lots of Republicans will sweat this And these are just negligible cuts Republicans extolled the work of DOGE But if they want to eliminate spending they have to put their vote where their favorite project is We ll know more in a scarce weeks whether Republicans can approve the recissions package and rescind what several characterize as wasteful spending Otherwise they may need to rescind those campaign promises