REQUEST FOR RESCISSIONS: President Donald J. Trump is requesting that Congress rescind billions of dollars in excessive spending.
- President Trump is requesting that Congress rescind more than $15 billion in budget authority, in line with his commitment to use every tool at his disposal to rein in out-of-control Federal spending.
- The President’s request is the first of several upcoming rescissions packages aimed at cutting Federal spending.
- President Trump is proposing the largest single rescissions request in history pursuant to the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (ICA).
- Under the ICA, the President has the authority to request rescissions and his proposals are eligible for expedited consideration by Congress.
- Democratic and Republican Presidents have used the ICA to propose nearly $76 billion in spending cuts since the law was enacted.
- Upon the passage of the ICA in 1974, each President from Gerald Ford to Bill Clinton successfully used the ICA to rescind Federal funds.
CONFRONTING IRRESPONSIBLE SPENDING: The President’s rescissions request puts American taxpayers first by addressing irresponsible Federal spending.
- President Trump’s first rescissions package targets spending that is unnecessary, unused, or cannot be used for its original purpose.
- Some of the funds included in the President’s request were appropriated many years ago, but have never been used.
- At the President’s direction, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) worked to identify wasteful spending that should be rescinded.
- Funds in President Trump’s first proposed rescissions package include:
- $4.3 billion from the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program, which has not made a loan since 2011.
- $523 million from the Title 17 Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program, which had its authority to make new loan guarantees lapse in 2011.
- $800 million from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, which is in excess of the funds needed in fiscal years (FY) 2018 or 2019 and will receive a new appropriation of $10 billion in 2020.
- $252 million in excess funds remaining from the 2015 Ebola outbreak response, an epidemic the World Health Organization declared to be over in 2016.
- $133 million from the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Extended Benefits program that expired in 2012.
- $148 million from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, including funds for outbreak response for disease incidents that have been resolved.
