Republicans Work to Cut Wasteful Spending as Democrats Threaten to Tank the Appropriations Process

As Senate Republicans Approach Passage of Commonsense Rescissions, Democrats Hurl Unhinged Rhetoric and Continue Threatening to Take the Appropriations Process Hostage

REPUBLICANS’ RESCISSIONS BILL IS TARGETED AND GOES AFTER WASTEFUL SPENDING

The rescissions bill is targeted: The $9 billion rescissions package Senate Republicans are currently considering only accounts for roughly 0.1% of all federal spending. (U.S. Congress: S.Amdt.2853 to H.R.4 – accessed 7/16/25; Congressional Budget Office: The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2025 to 2035 – accessed 7/16/25)

This rescissions bill cuts funding that has been used for wasteful programs that stray from the original purpose of American foreign aid:
- The Economic Support Fund: Specifically targeting funds for “sedentary migrants” in Colombia, support for media organizations and the civic life of Palestinians, Iraqi Sesame Street, and teaching children how to make environmentally friendly “reproductive health” decisions. (U.S. Congress: S.Amdt.2853 to H.R.4 – accessed 7/16/25)

- Development assistance: Preventing funds from going toward electric buses in Rwanda, “Net Zero Cities” in Mexico, promoting vegan food in Zambia, and civic engagement in Zimbabwe. (U.S. Congress: S.Amdt.2853 to H.R.4 – accessed 7/16/25)

- Several international organizations that do not share America’s interests, including the World Health Organization; the anti-Israel UN Human Rights Council; and the UN Population Fund, an organization whose funding has gone toward providing transgender health products in Bangladesh and “third-gender” community centers in Southeast Asia. (U.S. Congress: S.Amdt.2853 to H.R.4 – accessed 7/16/25)

What this bill does not cut, but rather fully protects: PEPFAR, funding for the Countering PRC Influence Fund, U.S. commodity-based food aid, and the Feed the Future Innovation Labs network. (U.S. Congress: S.Amdt.2853 to H.R.4 – accessed 7/16/25)

DEMOCRATS ARE OPTING FOR UNHINGED RHETORIC INSTEAD OF ACCEPTING THE HISTORICAL PRECEDENT FOR RESCISSIONS

“It’s incompetence – simple incompetence and cruelty based on extremist ideology.” – Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)
“[T]hese cuts will cost lives and harm our national security for decades to come. This isn’t fiscal responsibility. It’s recklessness.” – Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.)
“Maybe getting our kids hooked on brainrot TV is part of the Republican plan.” – Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.)
“[T]his package would abandon the American public.” – Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii)
President Trump’s rescissions package pales in comparison to the $16 billion rescissions package passed in 1995 under President Clinton (D) and supported by then-Sens. Joe Biden (D-Del.) and Harry Reid (D-Nev.), accounting for 1% of all federal spending for that year. (U.S. Department of the Treasury: Bureau of the Fiscal Service: Annual Report of the U.S. Government 1995 – accessed 7/16/25; U.S. Senate: Roll Call Vote #321 – 7/21/95)

In 1992, under the Impoundment Control Act, Congress overwhelmingly passed a roughly $8.2 billion rescissions package, which at the time accounted for 0.6% of all federal spending for that year. (U.S. Congress: H.R.4990 - Rescinding certain budget authority, and for other purposes. – accessed 7/16/25; The Washington Post: Sen. Byrd’s ‘Pork Barrel’ Revenger? – 5/21/92; GovInfo: Budget FY 2022 - Table 1.1 - Summary of Receipts, Outlays, and Surpluses or Deficits (–): 1789–2026 – 5/28/21)

THIS IS ALL PART OF DEMOCRATS’ LONGSTANDING ABANDONMENT OF THE APPROPRIATIONS PROCESS AND WILLINGNESS TO SHUT DOWN THE GOVERNMENT

“[I]t is absurd for them to expect Democrats to act as business as usual and engage in a bipartisan appropriations process to fund the government, while they concurrently plot to pass a purely partisan rescissions bill.” – Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)
“And that’s all saying nothing about how pushing this through won’t just cut bipartisan investments, it will cut out the heart of the basic principles that make bipartisan deals possible.” – Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.)
“It’s fundamentally changing the way the government is supposed to function. That kind of poisons the well a bit here.” – Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.)
“Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is warning Republicans they'll risk a government shutdown all alone…” (Axios: GOP cuts trigger Democratic warnings on government shutdowns – 7/9/25)

“Schumer remains under immense pressure to show his frustrated base that Democrats are doing whatever they can to combat Trump after blinking first in the prior shutdown showdown and on the heels of Republicans passing the president’s marquee One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” (The Washington Examiner: Schumer’s shutdown threat could set the stage for Democratic revolt – 7/13/25)

“But the Democratic base's message is even louder now: Fight, fight, fight.” (Axios: GOP cuts trigger Democratic warnings on government shutdowns – 7/9/25)

“A shutdown fight in this political climate could put Democratic senators under the most intense pressure of their careers. But the threat of a shutdown is Schumer's (D-N.Y.) only real leverage.” (Axios: GOP cuts trigger Democratic warnings on government shutdowns – 7/9/25)

Reminder: The federal government is operating on a continuing resolution because while in the majority last year, Schumer did not bring a single appropriations bill to the floor for consideration – despite the Senate Appropriations Committee having passed 11 of the 12 appropriations bills by the beginning of last August. (CNN: Trump’s presidency moves into a new phase with a critical test of his power in Congress – 3/10/25; Punchbowl News: AM: The appropriations mess rolls on – 7/31/24; Congressional Research Service: Appropriations Status Table: FY2025 – accessed 7/16/25)