President Trump requested $9.3 billion in rescissions, targeting programs like the State Department, USAID, PBS, and NPR. Congress was expected to vote on this, with Republican support aiming to codify cuts suggested by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
That vote was cancelled.
The Unforgivable Betrayal of the Do Nothing GOP Congress
If Congress doesn’t approve the recissions request within 45 days of receiving it, Trump will be legally required to release the money back to the agencies.
Congress was scheduled to vote on rescissions this week to cut waste and fraud identified by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), targeting programs like USAID, PBS, and NPR. However, these votes were quietly canceled. No specific reasons for the cancellation were detailed in the available information, leaving the decision unclear. Some X posts expressed frustration, suggesting a lack of political will among Republicans to follow through on codifying DOGE’s proposed cuts. The rescissions were intended to formalize DOGE’s findings, which included billions in alleged waste, such as improper payments and fraudulent contracts, through a fast-track process under the Impoundment Control Act that requires only a simple majority in the Senate. Despite the cancellation, there’s no indication of rescheduling, and the issue remains a point of contention, with some lawmakers advocating for Congress to act to make DOGE’s cuts permanent.
What’s going on in DC? Why won’t the GOP majority get these rescissions passed?
The White House reportedly briefed congressional staffers last month on the proposal — a sweeping effort to claw back billions of taxpayer dollars and dismantle corrupt bureaucracies like USAID, which Trump has already folded into the State Department under Secretary Marco Rubio.
Among the top targets in the package:
$8.3 billion in foreign aid, largely through the now-defunct USAID, an agency President Trump has shut down and folded into the State Department.
$1.1 billion in funding for NPR and PBS, which Trump officials have labeled “far-left indoctrination machines funded by taxpayers.”
Politico reported back in April:
The White House will soon ask Congress to cancel $9.3 billion already approved for foreign aid initiatives, public broadcasting and other programs, according to a White House official granted anonymity to speak freely.
Congress is expected to receive that so-called rescissions request when lawmakers return from their two-week recess later this month. To nix the funding, the House and Senate will each have to vote at a simple-majority threshold to approve the formal ask.
The White House package is expected to target funding for the State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Institute of Peace and other programs, along with assistance to PBS and NPR through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
It would answer a call from congressional Republicans, who have ramped up their demands in recent months to defund public media companies for alleged bias against conservatives in programming and coverage. The CEOs of PBS and NPR testified at a hearing in March before the House Oversight subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency — the panel of lawmakers tasked with working in tandem with Elon Musk’s DOGE.
A Trump administration document obtained Monday also shows the White House is considering a larger request to revoke funding for the State Department and USAID, as well as asking Congress to cut those budgets by almost half for the upcoming fiscal year.
Congressional Republicans have been asking President Donald Trump and other administration officials for more a month now to send over a formal rescissions package, which would allow lawmakers to approve or reject specific funding cuts. There are efforts on Capitol Hill to bring legitimacy to moves by the White House to freeze billions of dollars in federal funding, which keep running up against a barrage of lawsuits. Some GOP senators have even directly appealed to Elon Musk for the chance to codify the spending cuts he’s made through his Department of Government Efficiency initiative.
But just because GOP lawmakers asked for a rescissions package doesn’t mean the $9.3 billion request will be swiftly approved. When Trump sent a request in 2018 to claw back $15 billion, the Senate rejected the plan. And not all Republicans support cutting funding for all the programs Trump would target in the new request.
If Congress doesn’t approve the recissions request within 45 days of receiving it, Trump will be legally required to release the money back to the agencies.
