FAQ: What is the Rescission Process
As the House prepares to vote on President Trump’s rescissions request this week, you may be wondering: What is a rescission, and how does it work? We break down the most frequently asked questions about the process below.
Q: What is a rescission?
A: When you hear rescission, think “rescind.” Rescission means Congress cancels funding that had previously been approved and allocated by Congress, but that has not yet been legally committed (“obligated”) by a federal agency.
Let’s break that down.
Under the Constitution, Congress holds the “power of the purse,” which includes the powers to tax and to spend. As such, it decides the federal government’s budget for each fiscal year and then, through the appropriations process, designates specific amounts of money for particular purposes. These designations are legally binding on the agencies receiving the funding.
Federal agencies then spend these funds after making legally binding commitments – “obligations” — to spend a certain amount of money, such as contracts or grants.
Congress generally does not cancel funds that have already been obligated. However, if some of the funds appropriated to certain agencies have not been used or obligated, and if the president does not deem them necessary, he can ask Congress to rescind those funds.
To cancel funding, Congress must pass a new law. Importantly, rescissions requested by the president bypass the Senate’s filibuster, which brings us to our next question.
Q: How does the rescission process work?
A: The Impoundment Control Act (ICA) of 1974 created a fast-track process for the president to request rescissions. Such rescissions require only a simple majority to pass the Senate instead of the usual 60 votes.
Rescission starts with the executive branch. First, the president identifies funds that he believes should not be spent. Then, the president sends a special message to Congress detailing the proposed rescissions.
When Congress receives that special message, it has just 45 days to approve some or all proposed changes under the ICA’s expedited process – meaning Congress must act on President Trump’s package by mid-July.
To qualify for the expedited process, a rescission bill must not contain any cuts outside of what was included in the president’s special message. A rescission bill need not include all of the president’s requests, however, and a single request can be divided into multiple rescission bills.
Not only does the ICA bypass the Senate filibuster, it also includes other rules to help expedite rescissions bills, including limiting debate time and including provisions to bring the bill to a vote more quickly.
Q: What is included in this first rescission package?
A: The president has proposed canceling $9.4 billion in federal spending. Most – $8.3 billion – of that money comes from various foreign aid programs at the State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development, and United States Institute of Peace, which the president and his government efficiency efforts have deemed unnecessary and wasteful. Examples of such programs include “African Hive Camping and Tours” backpacking adventure trips, vegan food promotion in Zambia, and lessons on how to make environmentally friendly “reproductive health” decisions for young children.
The remaining $1.1 billion makes up the full budget for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
These initial cuts could result in savings of nearly $100 billion across the next decade.
Q: Why does AFP support the rescissions request and want to see Congress pass it?
A: Rescission is a powerful tool to control government spending. The Trump administration has made remarkable efforts to rein in government waste, abuse, and inefficiency, but as AFP has pointed out previously, without Congress approval, many of the positive changes we have seen in the past months could be short-lived.
This expedited rescission process is an important opportunity for Congress to reclaim its constitutional “power of the purse” and rein in government spending through legislative action. It would also signal that Congress is serious about restoring accountability to American taxpayers instead of special interest groups, and that when push comes to shove, Congress can get things done.
The combination of the rescissions package with the tax relief policies of the current reconciliation bill will spur a ripple effect of positive changes for the American economy. We believe that by passing this rescissions package, Congress will set the stage for even more budget cuts. As of May 20, federal agencies had $1.4 trillion in unobligated funds, some of which could be appropriate for future rescissions.
You can read more about rescissions here and here.
