Council for Citizens Against Government Waste Applauds White House Rescission Package

WASHINGTON--()--Today, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) President Tom Schatz released the following statement of support for President Trump’s proposed fiscal year (FY) 2018 rescissions package:

“Following the disastrous FY 2018 omnibus spending bill, taxpayers were rightly outraged that Washington was busting the budget caps and exploding the national debt, and they demanded that something be done to reduce spending.

“President Trump is correct to propose cuts in perennially wasteful programs, including many that Citizens Against Government Waste have identified in its annual Prime Cuts database and Congressional Pig Book. We are glad that the White House has incorporated more than a dozen of these recommendations in its rescissions package, especially the elimination of $86 million in wasteful transportation earmarks, that exemplify Washington’s profligate spending. Taxpayers will be pleased to know that this is the largest single rescissions package in history, and that there will be future rescission packages addressing other areas of spending, including the omnibus bill.

“On April 13, 2018, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md,) expressed his support for rescinding funds that have been sitting around unspent in an account for several years. All the rescissions being proposed by President Trump meet Whip Hoyer’s standards. The money remains obligated, but has not been spent for several years or cannot be spent, and in some cases the funds have been superseded by new obligations, particularly the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

“Unless members of Congress approve the rescission package on a bipartisan basis, taxpayers will continue to lose faith in the ability of elected officials to restore the nation’s fiscal health.”

Background:

  • The rescission authority allows the president to submit to Congress a request to cancel spending it has already approved.
  • Under the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, Congress has up to 45 workdays to approve a rescission request.
  • Since FY 1974, presidents have proposed $76 billion in rescissions. Congress has accepted $25 billion.
  • No president has used his rescission authority since President Clinton in FY 2000.
  • In FY 1981 and 1982, Congress rescinded more than 65 percent of President Reagan’s $23 billion proposal in two separate packages.
  • The process should have bipartisan support. On April 13, 2018, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said, “I wouldn’t irrationally oppose a rescission which said we’ve had money laying in an account that has not been spent for 1, 2, 3 years, we shouldn’t just have it sitting in that account.”

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.

Contacts

Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW)
Curtis Kalin, 202-467-5318

Release Summary

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste released a statement of support for President Trump’s proposed FY 2018 rescissions package.

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Contacts

Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW)
Curtis Kalin, 202-467-5318