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Some of the White House’s conservative House allies say they’re interpreting the upcoming vote on President Donald Trump’s $9.4 billion spending cut proposal as a “test” of what Congress can achieve in terms of rolling back federal funding.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said he would not speak for members of the Trump administration but added, “I do think it is a test.”
“And I think this is going to demonstrate whether Congress has the fortitude to do what they always say they’ll do,” Roy said. “Cut the minimal amount of spending – $9 billion, NPR, PBS, things you complain about for a long time, or are they going to go back into their parochial politics?”
House GOP leaders unveiled legislation seeking to codify Trump’s spending cut request, known as a rescissions package, on Friday. It’s expected to get a House-wide vote sometime next week.
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“The rescissions request sent to Congress by the Trump Administration takes the federal government in a new direction where we actually cut waste, fraud, and abuse and hold agencies accountable to the American people,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said in a statement introducing the bill.
The legislation would claw back funding that Congress already appropriated to PBS, NPR, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) – cuts outlined by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) earlier this year.
And while several Republican leaders and officials have already said they expect to see more rescissions requests down the line, some people who spoke with Fox News Digital believe the White House is watching how Congress handles this first package before deciding on next steps.
“You’re dead right,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital when asked if the rescissions package was a test. “I think that it’s a test case – if we can’t get that…then we’re not serious about cutting the budget.”
A rescissions package only needs simple majorities in the House and Senate to pass. But Republicans in both chambers have perilously slim majorities that afford them few defections.
Republicans are also racing the clock – a rescissions package has 45 days to be considered otherwise it is considered rejected and the funding reinstated.
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Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, did not directly say whether he viewed the spending cuts as a test but dismissed any potential concerns.
“This is very low-hanging fruit, and I don’t anticipate any problems,” Gooden told Fox News Digital.
“I’ve heard a few comments in the media, but I don’t think they’re serious comments. If someone on the Republican side can make a case for PBS, but they won’t take a tough vote against illegal immigration, then we’ve got a lot of problems.”
Paul Winfree, president and CEO of the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC), told Fox News Digital last week, “This first rescissions package from President Trump is a test as to whether Congress has the ability to deliver on his mandate by canceling wasteful spending through a filibuster-proof process.”
“If they can’t then it’s a signal for the president to turn up the dial with other tools at his disposal,” Winfree, who served as Director of Budget Policy in the first Trump administration, said.
Both Roy and Norman suggested a process known as “pocket rescissions” could be at least one backup plan – and one that Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought has floated himself.
“Pocket rescissions” essentially would mean the White House introduces its spending cut proposal less than 45 days before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. In theory, it would run out the clock on those funds and allow them to expire whether Congress acted or not.
Vought told reporters after meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Monday that he wanted to “see if it passes” but was “open” to further rescissions packages.
“We want to send up general rescissions bills, to use the process if it’s appropriate, to get them through the House and the Senate,” Vought said. “We also have pocket rescissions, which you’ve begun to hear me talk a lot about, to be able to use the end of the fiscal year to send up a similar rescissions, and have the funds expire. So there’s a lot of things that we’re looking at.”
Still, some moderate Republicans may chafe at the conservative spending cuts.
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Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., refused to comment on whether he’d support the legislation before seeing the details but alluded to some concerns.
“Certainly I’m giving you a non-answer right now until I read the details,” Bacon said.
“It does bother me because I have a great rapport with Nebraska Public Radio and TV. I think they’ve been great to work with, and so that would be one I hope they don’t put in.”
He also raised concerns about some specific USAID programs, including critical investments to fight Ebola and HIV in Africa.
The legislation is expected to come before the House Rules Committee, the final gatekeeper before most legislation sees a House-wide vote, on Tuesday afternoon.
It’s separate from Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill,” a broad piece of legislation advancing the president’s tax, energy, and immigration agenda through the budget reconciliation process.
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