‘It would be great. I think we’re going to do that,’ Trump said in response to a question from NR.
President Donald Trump expressed support on Tuesday for a rescissions package that would codify some of the cuts that have been recommended by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an Elon Musk-led initiative to shrink the size and scope of the federal bureaucracy.
“It would be great. I think we’re going to do that,” Trump said Tuesday in the Cabinet Room in response to a question from National Review about the matter during a gaggle with the White House press pool. The president’s interest in a DOGE-related rescissions package is a boon to the GOP senators who have spent recent weeks asking him to help them enact some of the cuts through congressional action, as Democrats continue to protest the initiative’s cost-cutting efforts.
The White House has yet to send lawmakers a formal rescissions request with proposed spending cuts, and the administration has argued that the executive branch has authority to rescind funds that have already been approved by Congress.
As some GOP lawmakers continue to push the proposal, they are mindful that Republicans tried unsuccessfully to enact spending cuts during Trump’s first term. Congress can pass a rescissions package with a simple majority vote in both chambers, which would allow congressional Republicans to circumvent the Senate’s 60-vote threshold for passing legislation. Senate Republicans currently enjoy a 53-seat majority.
“It would be a big mistake if we don’t,” Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham recently told reporters of a DOGE-related rescissions package. “It’s the one way to make DOGE cuts real.”
Also in response to National Review‘s question Tuesday about codifying DOGE cuts, the president said he has tentative plans to sign an executive order soon to crack down on cities that do not comply with Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s efforts to arrest and deport illegal immigrants.
“We’re going to end sanctuary cities for some of these jurisdictions that aren’t cooperating with law enforcement,” he said. “We’re going to be ending sanctuary cities if we find it necessary to do in certain major areas, and we may just end the entire thing altogether, because it’s just a way of protecting criminals, and nobody else is benefited by that.”