President Donald Trump is giving congressional Republicans their first chance to codify cuts proposed by the Department of Government Efficiency.
The White House plans to transfer a $9.4 billion “rescissions package” to Congress on Tuesday, according to a spokesperson for Trump’s Office of Management and Budget. The legislation will include $1.1 billion in cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which runs PBS and NPR, both of which the president has previously vowed to end.
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The legislation also seeks $8.3 billion in cuts to foreign aid at the U.S. Agency for International Development and the African Development Foundation. Still, the total falls far short of the hundreds of billions in cuts proposed by DOGE since January.
The news comes just one day after Elon Musk, Trump’s DOGE point man, said he was “disappointed” by the tax reconciliation bill passed by House Republicans last week with Trump’s approval.
“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk, who is slated to depart the federal government soon, said during an interview with CBS.
“I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful,” he continued. “But I don’t know if it can be both. My personal opinion.”
White House officials say Musk is mistaken, both about the budgetary impact of the legislation and how it relates to proposed cuts to federal spending proposed by DOGE.
DOGE’s proposed cuts are to discretionary spending, which the White House reminds cannot be passed through the reconciliation process according to Senate budget rules and instead must be codified through either the normal appropriations process or through the passage of a separate rescissions 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,” White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller wrote in a statement. “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.”
House Republicans offered mild pushback to Musk’s claims on Wednesday.
“As we go through the conventional budget process, I’m confident that the appropriation committees will look at each line in the budget and look for saving opportunities,” one GOP lawmaker told the Washington Examiner. “Every line item in the budget should be scrutinized and ask if it is truly necessary spending. We must especially look at the NGOs that receive money from the federal government and see if they are legitimate organizations or simply political operations under the guise of a good-sounding name.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said Wednesday morning that “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.”
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Johnson added that, in addition to the White House’s first rescissions bill, the House will seek to move on additional DOGE recommendations during the appropriations process for the fiscal 2026 budget later this year.
“We have been working around the clock as we prepared for those processes,” Johnson wrote on X. “The House made sure to build on DOGE’s success within the One Big Beautiful Bill. [Stephen Miller] 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.”