WhatFinger

Trump is right that this is the biggest rescission proposal ever offered by a president

Trump to send $15 billion in spending rescissions later today

By Dan Calabrese ——--May 9, 2018

American Politics, News | CFP Comments | Reader Friendly | Subscribe | Email Us

You can argue it would have been better not to sign the Omnibus in the first place, but this will be a very positive end result if he can get it through Congress. The “if” is a pretty big problem, though.
Per a White House announcement this morning, the White House intends to do exactly what we’ve been talking about here for several months – use the Impoundment Act of 1974 to rescind more than $15 billion in previously approved spending, which can be approved by simple majorities of each house of Congress. From the release:
Since 1974, both Democratic and Republican Presidents have used the ICA to propose nearly $76 billion in cuts to Federal spending. Today’s package is the largest in the history of the ICA, and includes rescissions of unobligated balances from prior years and reductions to budget authority for mandatory programs. In some cases, this funding has been sitting in agency coffers for years with no plans to spend it. Highlights of the funding proposed for rescission include: • Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program (Energy): A $4.3 billion rescission of funds that have been untouched since 2011. Since ATVM’s inception in 2007, only five loans have been closed under this authority. • Title 17 Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program (Energy): A rescission of $523 million in unobligated balances dating back to the stimulus that were provided for energy loan guarantees. The authority to make new guarantees lapsed in 2011.
• Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (HHS): A rescission of $800 million that the Innovation Center has no plans to spend in FYs 2018 and 2019. In 2020, CMMI will receive a new mandatory appropriation of $10 billion. • Ebola Response (USAID): A rescission of $252 million in excess funds remaining from the initial Ebola outbreak in 2015; the World Health Organization declared the end of the Ebola epidemic in 2016. • Railroad Unemployment Insurance Extended Benefits (RRB): A rescission of $133 million in unobligated balances for a program that expired in 2012. • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (Department of Agriculture): A rescission of $148 million, including funds for responding to disease outbreaks that are now resolved (e.g., the highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak in 2015).
This will fly through the House. The Senate will be a much bigger problem. Remember, there are only 51 Republican senators, and since one of them is John McCain, there are really only 50. Since two of them are Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, there are often only 48, and neither Collins nor Murkowski is a big fan of spending cuts.

Support Canada Free Press

Donate
Democrats will scream that passing the rescission would amount to going back on the deal through which Democrats agreed not to filibuster the Omnibus, because at the time Republicans voted along with a handful of Democrats to approve the very spending items that would now be rescinded. The rhetorical response to that objection is simply that Charles Schumer would sell his own mother’s left eye to get something the left wanted, and he’s the last person who should be complaining about the sanctity of any bipartisan deal. The more substantive response, which Mitch McConnell will have no interest in, is to tell the Democrats they’re right, and that the solution is to get rid of the legislative filibuster so it is no longer necessary to go to them seeking such deals. Trump is right that this is the biggest rescission proposal ever offered by a president. But only about $24 billion has ever been rescinded in the history of the Impoundment Act, precisely because Congress loves spending money and hates taking authority away from itself. With McCain absent in Arizona, Republicans can’t afford to lose a single senator if they hope to pass the rescission. The only way they’re getting Collins and Murkowski is if Trump has already made a deal with them to nix an even bigger rescission. By the way, at this point are you confident Marco Rubio would be on board? Me neither.
Subscribe

View Comments
Dan Calabrese——

Dan Calabrese’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain

Follow all of Dan’s work, including his series of Christian spiritual warfare novels, by liking his page on Facebook.

VIEW Comments

Sponsored