Conservatives ‘Grateful’ for President Trump’s Rescission Package

Conservatives cheered President Donald Trump’s rescission package which, if passed, would eliminate $15 billion in government spending.

President Donald Trump signaled on Tuesday that he plans to send a “rescission” package that, if passed through Congress, would eliminate $15 billion in federal spending. A rescission package can pass through the Senate with only a simple majority, allowing Republicans to bypass the onerous 60-vote threshold in Congress’ upper chamber.

The Trump administration revealed that the proposed spending cuts would amount to the most substantial rescission package that any president has ever proposed. Among the 38 proposed cuts, Trump’s rescission would eliminate a $4.3 billion vehicle technology loan program, $800 million from an Obamacare payment pilot program, and $200 million earmarked for the Ebola outbreak.

Conservatives cheered the proposed package.

Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, applauded President Trump’s rescission package.

Brat said in a statement on Tuesday:

I, of course, applaud any initiative to scale back spending at the federal level. I recently wrote an op-ed requesting the White House send Congress a rescission package. More good news—this rescission package is the largest in history. I am glad this administration is trying to rectify the problem of the giant spending bill that passed Congress several weeks ago.

Brat, however, cautioned, “But, as has become a tired refrain, anything significant will have a hard time passing Mitch McConnell’s Senate.”

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), said in a statement on Tuesday:

I am grateful for the hard work of Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney for putting together a $15 billion rescissions package that reduces the deficit. This is the largest rescissions request by any administration and shows a commitment to limited government that President Donald Trump promised while campaigning, and I look forward to voting in favor of this measure in the House.

Conservative activist groups also applauded Trump’s rescission package.

Club for Growth President David McIntosh said in a statement on Tuesday, “This rescission package is an initial step in President Trump keeping his promises to the American people to control spending.”

McIntosh added:

We encourage both the House and Senate to move immediately to act on this rescission package.  Imagine, if Congress is so addicted to spending that they can’t even cut ‘unwanted and unused’ spending, what good are they?  The Trump Administration is giving Congress a golden opportunity to begin to right our nation’s fiscal course.  Congress should take its job seriously and promptly pass these spending cuts.

Tea Party Patriots president Jenny Beth Martin said in a statement:

We are grateful to the Trump administration for this rescission package and fully support its implementation as a good first step. This is money that cannot be spent so it shouldn’t be spent. It should be returned to taxpayers as a down payment on future rescissions and spending cuts that the Republican congressional leadership has promised multiple times.

FreedomWorks President Adam Brandon cheered the proposed rescission in a statement, saying:

FreedomWorks applauds the work of the White House and President Trump in transmitting to Congress $15.4 billion in proposed rescissions. This is a step in the right direction towards cutting spending, as Republicans promise year after year to do. But, with a national debt of over $21 trillion, there is a long way to go.

Congress should act swiftly in approving this proposal in full, as one step in an effort that does not stop there.

Brandon added, “They should work with the administration in the coming months and years to use this revived rescissions tool and other tools available to them to cut more waste, including spending in this year’s irresponsible omnibus, from every area of government.”