The One Big, Beautiful Bill - the OBBB - was only one step in what looks to be a long slog towards (we hope) setting the federal government's fiscal house in order. The next step are the rescissions packages, which are the actions needed to claw back federal spending that has already been appropriated. As Congress giveth, Congress must taketh away, and that's what these packages do. Trouble is, there's a deadline, and the current $9.4 billion bill may meet some complications in the Senate.
A group of House conservatives is warning the Senate to leave President Donald Trump's rescissions package intact as the deadline to consider the spending cuts looms large.
Republicans have until the end of Friday to deal with the bill, the legislative version of the White House’s request to claw back roughly $9.4 billion in funds already allocated by Congress.
Senate Republicans have signaled the bill could change somewhat, however, after passing the House last month.
"In order to facilitate President Trump’s voter mandate, the Senate must pass the entire $9.4 billion of spending cuts in the rescission bill. Weakening any of these provisions would undermine both his leadership and the discipline our budget urgently demands," the letter said.
Yes, Friday is the deadline. And, we should note, the bill just squeaked by in the House:
It barely passed the House in a 214 to 212 vote, with four House Republicans voting against it over various concerns, including the impact to local public news stations and funding for HIV/AIDS research in Africa, known as PEPFAR.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, told reporters last week the bill "needs some significant changes."
RedState's own Joe Cunningham reported on the state of the bill last week:
Read More: Senate Republicans Face Growing Pressure on Trump's $9.4 Billion Spending Cuts
Joe writes:
Congress has until July 18 to approve Trump's rescissions package, which would yank funding from two main targets: $8.3 billion in foreign aid programs and $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that funds NPR and PBS. The House narrowly passed the measure 214-212 last month, with four Republicans defecting.
The action shifts to the Senate, where Majority Leader John Thune needs to hold together a 53-seat majority that's showing strain. The package only needs a simple majority to pass, meaning no Democratic filibuster will get in the way, but several key Republicans are balking at specific cuts.
That already seems to be happening.
Here's the thing: The rescissions packages are a scalpel, granted, when a meat axe is what's required for the federal budget. But "politics is the art of the possible" right now, and clawing back some spending is better than clawing back no spending. And the claim that these cuts will "impact local public news stations" is a canard. There are any number of alternatives to public broadcasting; the internet and the new media (like RedState) have rendered government-sponsored public broadcasting badly obsolete. And as far as AIDs research in Africa, there's an argument to be made that research there, where AIDS is still prevalent, may help people here, but I can come up with 37 trillion reasons why this isn't the time for this kind of spending.
The Trump administration is already turning around the receipts side of the federal ledger:
Read More: Big: Treasury Posts Unexpected Surplus for June, Thanks to Tariffs
Now Congress needs to uphold their end of the deal. The nation's fiscal mess requires spending cuts. These are spending cuts. We need a lot more, but this is what we can get today. The Senate should pass this as is - but the Collins/Murkowski caucus may once again prove to be the holdouts.
Interesting times.
DOGE is finding billions of dollars in wasteful spending, and the Democrats are losing their minds as they realize their gravy train and woke projects are coming to an end.
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