'A Violation Of Our Separation Of Powers': Peter Welch Slams Budget Recisions Requested By Trump

Forbes Breaking News

During remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) spoke about the recessions submitted to Congress by President Trump.

Transcript

00:00Last week, President Trump sent to Congress a request to rescind $9.4 billion in fiscal year 2025 and 2024 funds

00:12that a majority of Republicans and Democrats had debated, had voted for, and those appropriations were signed into law by President Trump.

00:24And I want to briefly discuss the impact these rescissions would have because of the consequences for Americans,

00:34for our relationships with other governments, and for millions of people around the world.

00:40Also, I want to speak about what this does to the appropriations power and authority and responsibility of Congress.

00:49We're seeing, from my view, Mr. President, an abdication of Article I authority that belongs under the Constitution to Congress

01:01in delegating that to the chief executive.

01:05It is a violation of our separation of powers, which is a pillar of the checks and balances that is essential to the well-being of our democracy.

01:14First, talking about the rescissions, the White House, as it says, with everything that we do appropriate money for,

01:28the White House claims it's waste, fraud, and abuse, and also claims that it contributes to the ballooning deficit.

01:35There's a contradiction here, because according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office,

01:44the so-called Big Beautiful Bill that the President is determined to pass,

01:52that will add $2.4 trillion to the deficit.

01:57$2.4 trillion, and that is before we add the increased debt service that will be required to pay it.

02:06In this country, taxpayers are now on the verge of paying a trillion dollars annually in interest payments.

02:15And that is dead money.

02:18It doesn't support our military.

02:20It doesn't support our schools.

02:22It doesn't support scientific research.

02:24It's paid to bondholders, many of whom are in China.

02:30Most of the funds that the President is proposing to cancel

02:34were approved two and a half months ago for fiscal year 2025.

02:39And there's been absolutely no showing that any of these funds, not a single dollar,

02:45cannot or should not be used for the purposes for which they were appropriated

02:50by a bipartisan majority in Congress.

02:54There has been absolutely no showing, none, of any waste, fraud, and abuse.

03:01These funds were deemed worthy of funding two months ago, and the President himself agreed.

03:07He signed it.

03:09This is an end around Article I authority of Congress.

03:13We pass a budget, and then the executive rescinds what it is we appropriated our funds for.

03:20Enormous erosion of the responsibility of Congress under Article I.

03:25But let me just mention a few specific examples of the funds that are on the chopping block.

03:33Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

03:35That's in the case of Vermont.

03:38It's called Vermont Public, and it's our public radio station, and it's our public broadcasting.

03:44And every state has the public broadcasting system.

03:48Vermont, and I know we're not unique, it is essential programming that knits together our community,

03:56provided information that was crucial constantly when we had floods in July of 23 and July of 24.

04:03Federal funding is about 10% of our budget, but in many states it's about 40 or 50%.

04:10The administration is proposing to get rid of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting altogether.

04:17I totally and completely oppose that.

04:19It's the equivalent of $1.60 for each American annually,

04:23and it provides a source of local news at a time when we have news deserts all around the country.

04:30And the pressure on our local newspapers, on our local broadcasters, on our local radio stations is enormous.

04:36We need public broadcasting.

04:40I saw it in Vermont, as I mentioned,

04:42when we had the enormous benefit of the information we needed desperately to deal with floods.

04:49My Republican colleagues in North Carolina had a similar experience.

04:54It was local public media markets and outlets that provided life-saving emergency alert information

05:01to ensure that victims knew which roads they could travel,

05:06which food distribution centers were open,

05:10and the elimination of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting puts all of this at risk.

05:15Another program set to be eliminated, PEPFAR.

05:22PEPFAR is a flagship HIV AIDS prevention program.

05:27It was started by President George W. Bush.

05:30It has saved millions of lives.

05:34It has created enormous goodwill for the United States around the entire world.

05:39The chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee has strongly opposed any rescission of PEPFAR funds.

05:46And I agree with Senator Collins and cannot for the life of me understand how anyone would support rescinding those funds

05:53that provide so much to so many for so little.

05:59Some other programs.

06:00Global health.

06:02$500 million would be cut.

06:03These activities on global health protect child and maternal health.

06:09They combat HIV AIDS and infectious diseases.

06:14We'd be rescinding funds that fight malaria, Ebola, polio, HIV and AIDS

06:19and other diseases that have been kept under control

06:23and out of the United States in many cases.

06:26Thanks to these programs, they could easily explode into full-blown epidemics.

06:35$800 million is being cut for refugees, like those who are fleeing genocide in Darfur in Burma.

06:43It also, you know, should we turn our back on the Afghan refugees,

06:47folks who served our men and women in uniform during the course of the Afghan war?

06:53Or another cut is $83 million for programs that have supported democracy

06:59through organizations like the International Republican Institute,

07:03the National Democratic Institute, and Freedom House.

07:07These have all historically received bipartisan support and strong support.

07:14This rescission would put them out of business,

07:17even though we kept them in business on a bipartisan vote just two and a half months ago.

07:21A cut of $1.65 billion for the economic support fund.

07:28It may not necessarily be apparent on its face, but that fund account funds our economics assistance

07:35for Jordan, which has been an incredibly important ally to kind of release pressure in the Middle East,

07:42Egypt, Indonesia, Lebanon,

07:45and for other programs that combat corruption and transnational money laundering

07:51and terrorist financing,

07:54human trafficking and wildlife trafficking.

07:58These programs also, by the way, expand and build markets for U.S. exports,

08:04creating good, high-paying jobs in the United States of America.

08:08A cut of $460 million for assistance for Georgia, Armenia, Macedonia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan,

08:17and other former Soviet republics.

08:21We want them to be our friend.

08:24We are in a contest with Russia.

08:27Russia, walking away from these on-the-edge countries,

08:32fragile countries, would send the message Putin wants,

08:35even while he is seeking to

08:38overtake Ukraine.

08:42A cut of $496 million for international disaster assistance.

08:48And that, by the way, provides life-saving aid for victims of natural

08:51and man-made disasters, from earthquakes and hurricanes to armed conflicts.

08:57You know, this is the United States doing its share as the major power in the world

09:03to help those who have been impacted by these extreme events

09:08that caused immense harm and suffering through no cause of their own.

09:13And also, it would cut $202 million for some specialized agencies,

09:21including UNICEF, that's traditionally been led by an American.

09:26And the Chinese love this, because where we leave,

09:29they've made it no secret, they want to replace us.

09:33These are just a few of the examples of the irreparable harm

09:37these rescissions would cause to programs and organizations

09:40that have had long-standing bipartisan support.

09:45They serve our interest, and they promote U.S. global leadership.

09:50Mr. President, I understand the White House is looking everywhere it can,

09:54except the defense budget, to find revenue.

09:57And they need that revenue to offset the tax breaks

10:01that will go, by and large, to the richest Americans.

10:06But these rescissions are thoughtless and they're reckless.

10:09Leadership of the United States is not solely a function of military power.

10:15Soft power really makes a difference.

10:18And it's a function and a power that we have to use our resources

10:24to act as a force multiplier for democratic principles,

10:28for free markets, and for building alliances.

10:31If these rescissions are approved,

10:36we'll be asked to explain why Congress did an about-face,

10:40literally in a matter of two and a half months,

10:42incited U.S. global engagement influence to China.

10:46None of us want that.

10:48All of us will get that.

10:51You know, the President likes to talk about his historic mandate.

10:56He did win.

10:56It was two million votes out of 152 million cast.

11:02It was a small margin of victory,

11:05the smallest by a Republican presidential candidate since the 1900s.

11:10My point here is not so much the size of the mandate.

11:15Whatever the mandate,

11:17a president should embrace the responsibility

11:21that he or she has to the entire country,

11:25and that includes folks who didn't vote for him.

11:29I do not believe even those who did

11:31were voting to risk the lives and their children's lives

11:37by cutting funds to stop the spread of Ebola,

11:39or measles, or West Nile virus.

11:42This wasn't a mandate to shut down programs

11:44to defend democracy where it's under assault.

11:47This was not a vote to withdraw from UNICEF.

11:52This was not a vote necessarily to turn our back

11:54on the world's refugees,

11:57including, in particular,

11:59Afghan refugees who saved lives of our men and women in uniform.

12:05You know, the talk about wasteful spending,

12:08we're with everybody.

12:10I have yet to meet a member of the United States Senate

12:13who's in favor of waste, fraud, and abuse.

12:15But we've got to identify it and then attack it,

12:20not assert that that's the justification

12:23for ending a program like PEPFAR

12:25that has proven to be efficient and effective

12:29in saving lives at very little cost.

12:33Mr. President,

12:35the final point I think all of us have to consider

12:38is the one I made at the beginning,

12:40and that is about the Article I responsibility of Congress.

12:44Alexander Hamilton warned about

12:48the excessive power

12:53that could reside in any one branch of government,

12:58in that for the well-being of our democracy,

13:02we had to maintain that competition between the branches,

13:06which required them to exercise and assert

13:09the authority that was given to each branch

13:11in the Constitution.

13:13And, of course, Article I gives to the Congress

13:17the power to tax

13:19and the power to spend.

13:22And it is absolutely essential

13:25we do that carefully and wisely

13:27because our constituents are the ones

13:29who are going to pay the bill

13:31through taxes we assess,

13:33and they're the ones who are going to receive

13:34the benefits through appropriations we make.

13:36But to abdicate that power,

13:39which is essentially what rescission

13:41would accommodate for the executive,

13:44is to turn over that power to the president.

13:47And it's not just a matter of it being this president.

13:51It's any president.

13:52In order for us to meet our responsibilities,

13:54we have to adhere to our constitutional responsibility

13:58under Article I.

14:00That we are the ones

14:01who are subject to the will of the people

14:04in the House every two years

14:05and the Senate every six years

14:07to account for how we tax and how we spend.

14:10Let's not dodge

14:11by delegating that power to the executive.

14:15Mr. President, I yield back.

Category

Transcript

Recommended