The White House moved Tuesday to rescind $9.4 billion in previously approved federal spending, formally requesting that Congress cancel funding for programs identified as wasteful by Elon Musk’s former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The rescission proposal, a legal maneuver under the 1974 Impoundment Control Act, seeks to retract funding already signed into law, an effort President Donald Trump’s administration says targets liberal-leaning initiatives and unnecessary foreign aid. Budget Director Russ Vought confirmed that more such rescission efforts could follow.
“We are certainly willing and able to send up additional packages if the congressional will is there,” Vought told reporters, adding that his office could try again at the end of the fiscal year, when unspent funds may expire without further Congressional action. “It’s one of the reasons why we are not putting all of our expectations in a typical rescissions process.”
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The proposed cuts represent a mere fraction of total federal spending. With the government on track to spend approximately $7 trillion this year, the $9.4 billion rollback request amounts to just 0.1% of the budget. Still, the move serves as a political message: the Trump administration intends to embed DOGE’s cost-cutting ethos into law.
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described Vought as a “well-respected fiscal hawk” and emphasized that the administration would continue to seek savings. “He has tools at his disposal to produce even more savings,” she said.
The proposal comes amid sharp criticism from Musk himself, who blasted the broader tax and spending package currently moving through Congress. “Disgusting abomination,” he wrote online, slamming the bill for growing the deficit.
According to a White House Office of Management and Budget official speaking anonymously, the rescission package would eliminate $8.3 billion in funding from the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development. Also on the chopping block: federal support for NPR, PBS, and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
The official detailed several specific expenditures the Trump administration wants to cancel, including $750,000 allocated to combat xenophobia in Venezuela, $67,000 intended for feeding insect powder to children in Madagascar, and $3 million earmarked for circumcision, vasectomies, and condom distribution programs in Zambia.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson praised the plan, calling it a continuation of DOGE’s fiscal legacy.
“This rescissions package reflects many of DOGE’s findings and is one of the many legislative tools Republicans are using to restore fiscal sanity,” Johnson said. “Congress will continue working closely with the White House to codify these recommendations, and the House will bring the package to the floor as quickly as possible.”
The House Freedom Caucus echoed Johnson’s support, signaling enthusiasm for even more cuts. “We will support as many more rescissions packages the White House can send us in the coming weeks and months,” the group said. “Passing this rescissions package will be an important demonstration of Congress’s willingness to deliver on DOGE and the Trump agenda.”
But not everyone is onboard. Sen. Susan Collins, the Republican chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, urged caution.
“Despite this fast track, the Senate Appropriations Committee will carefully review the rescissions package and examine the potential consequences of these rescissions on global health, national security, emergency communications in rural communities, and public radio and television stations,” she said.
Meanwhile, the legal foundation of the rescission move could draw scrutiny. Bobby Kogan of the Center for American Progress argued in a statement that the Trump administration is already “illegally impounding additional funds,” asserting that withholding approved spending without Congressional consent has long been prohibited.
On CNN, Vought pushed back. “We’re not breaking the law,” he said. “Every part of the federal government, each branch, has to look at the Constitution themselves and uphold it, and there’s tension between the branches.”
According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the Senate can approve rescissions with a simple majority, bypassing a filibuster, but success still depends on political will. Between 1974 and 2000, only a third of rescission requests from presidents were approved.
