White House announces rescission package to cut spending by $15.4 billion

White House Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director Russ Vought penned an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal announcing the Trump administration’s rescission package that is structured to cut $15.4 billion in spending this fiscal year.

“Washington has a spending problem. The national debt is now more than $21 trillion and the deficit could reach $1 trillion next year,” Vought wrote. “At the direction of President Trump, the Office of Management and Budget has worked diligently to identify wasteful and unnecessary spending already approved by Congress. On Tuesday, President Trump will send Congress a $15.4 billion rescissions request, the largest ever using this authority.”

The package goes after spending “that is no longer necessary, has been diverted from its original intent, or has sat unused for years” like the Energy Department’s Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing loan program that hasn’t made a loan since 2011. $7 billion in funds from CHIP will be cut because the money cannot be used as its authority to do so has expired.

The Trump administration’s request would save $148 million in Agriculture Department funds intended for animal and plant disease outbreaks that have already been resolved. It would save $252 million at the U.S. Agency for International Development that was appropriated in fiscal 2015 for the Ebola response, which has largely concluded. Another proposal would save $47 million at the Federal Transit Administration from an account that has stagnated for 13 years. Yet another would reclaim taxpayer dollars from a Railroad Retirement Board program that ended in 2012.

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Over the past decade, it’s become increasingly apparent that Washington has no appetite for fiscal restraint. Unless the federal government as a whole commits to cutting spending and letting the economy grow, bloated deficits and outrageous levels of debt will haunt future generations. President Trump stands ready to put our fiscal house back in order and put the American taxpayer first. Does the rest of Washington?