It seems some House and Senate Republicans are wincing at the idea of doing another rescissions bill. To that, I can only say, "Suck it up, cupcakes. This is what we voted for." If this is how we get spending cuts, then there's no reason they shouldn't max it out.
So, get after it. There's a lot more to be done.
White House budget director Russ Vought said Thursday that a second request to rescind congressionally approved spending is likely coming soon. That will mean another bitter go-round on an issue that inflamed GOP institutionalists who worry about the administration’s steady encroachment on Congress’ power of the purse — even as many fiscal hawks embraced the move to cut spending in any way possible.
I'm not too sympathetic to the "bitter go-round" argument. This is the job these people were elected to do. This was a major campaign point for Donald Trump. The Department of Government Efficiency - the DOGE - has identified trillions in stupidly wasteful spending. If this is how we get it done, then fine. Get it done.
Every time they do this, it should be easier, but then, they will still have to deal with the usual holdouts.
Some Republicans think next time will be different. They believe the White House understands, after multiple warnings from lawmakers, that another norm-shattering rescissions package couldn’t land in GOP laps without a lot more transparency around what, exactly, the administration wanted Congress to cut.
“I think we’ll probably take a different approach,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) said in an interview Thursday, adding, “I think the lesson on this one is, we need to be including the chair and making sure we’re working together.”
The first rescission bill is great. It broke the crust. There were some tense moments, but it got done. Now it's time to put down the scalpel and pick up the axe. The statute covering rescissions bills, 2 U.S. Code Chapter 17B Subchapter II, is the rulebook. There's no reason not to use it to the greatest degree allowed.
There's a pressing need to get the nation's economy back on track. There's a pressing need to get our military rebuilt, to get illegal aliens out of our country, and to restore federal law enforcement to the esteem in which the American people once held it. All those things are important; all those things are also what we voted for.
But we also have to get spending under control. Rescission is one tool for doing that. Washington spends too much of our money on too many things that we don't need, don't want, and aren't authorized by the Constitution. Every single line item we can strike out of the federal budget is a win. As for the House and Senate, this is literally their job.
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Breaking: House Delivers With $9B Rescissions Package
And, as always, we can count on Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) to strike at the very heart of the matter.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said in an interview Thursday that he pushed Vought during a closed-door lunch Tuesday to send additional spending cut packages to Capitol Hill. The budget director, he added, called him on Wednesday morning and said, according to Kennedy, “another is coming your way.”
“I’m ready to gobble them up,” Kennedy added, before imitating a turkey: “Gobble, gobble.”
He gets it.
Editor's Note: President Trump is leading America into the "Golden Age" as Democrats try desperately to stop it.
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