House Speaker Johnson just addressed the DOGE cuts that people have been outspoken about and when we can expect to see them codified into actual legislation.
Here’s what he said:
@ElonMusk and the entire @DOGE team have done INCREDIBLE work exposing waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal government – from the insanity of USAID’s spending to finding over 12 million people on Social Security who were over 120 years old.
The House is eager and ready to act on DOGE’s findings so we can deliver even more cuts to big government that President Trump wants and the American people demand.
We will do that in two ways:
1. When the White House sends its rescissions package to the House, we will act quickly by passing legislation to codify the cuts.
2. The House will use the appropriations process to swiftly implement President Trump’s 2026 budget.
In the meantime, we have been working around the clock as we prepared for those processes. The House made sure to build on DOGE’s success within the One Big Beautiful Bill. @StephenM has made an important point about the two efforts: DOGE found savings in discretionary spending (such as funding agencies), while our One Big Beautiful Bill secured over $1.6 trillion in savings in mandatory spending (such as Medicaid). Both are HISTORIC and take HUGE steps toward addressing our debt and deficit.
Johnson reposted something from Stephen Miller yesterday, which underscores something he wrote three days ago about how the DOGE cuts could not have been part of the reconciliation bill:
DOGE cuts are to discretionary spending. (Eg the federal bureaucracy). Under senate budget rules, you cannot cut discretionary spending (only mandatory) in a reconciliation bill.
So DOGE cuts would have to be done through what is known as a rescissions package or an appropriations bill.
The Big Beautiful Bill is NOT an annual budget bill and does not fund the departments of government. It does not finance our agencies or federal programs. Instead, it includes the single largest welfare reform in American history. Along with the largest tax cut and reform in American history. The most aggressive energy exploration in American history. And the strongest border bill in American history. All while reducing the deficit.
Adding to Johnson’s post above is news from taxpayer funded Politico:
The White House plans to send a small package of spending cuts to Congress next week, senior GOP officials told several House Republicans Wednesday.
The planned transmission of the “rescissions” bill, confirmed by two Republicans granted anonymity to describe the plans, comes after a long internal battle over how to formalize the cuts that have been made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative.
The package set to land on Capitol Hill is expected to reflect only a fraction of the DOGE cuts, which have already fallen far short of Musk’s multi-trillion-dollar aspirations. The two Republicans said it will target NPR and PBS, as well as foreign aid agencies that have already been gutted by President Donald Trump’s administration.
Whether it can pass is a separate question: Republicans have debated possible DOGE-inspired rescissions for months, and GOP leaders have been sensitive to the fact that some pieces may have trouble passing the House, according to two other Republicans granted anonymity to discuss the matter, as well as the tight 45-day timeline for consideration set out in federal law. Top appropriators have sought to weigh in ahead of any White House submission to ensure the package can pass.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who first pressed Musk almost three months ago to get Trump to pursue clawbacks, is frustrated that the Trump administration had not sent a package sooner.
“I’m very disappointed — not only in the White House, but disappointed in Congress,” Paul said in a brief interview last week. “If Congress can’t cut $9 billion, I think most of them should resign and go home.”