Thom Tillis Raises Concerns With Rescissions Bill, Says He Will Give Trump 'Benefit Of The Doubt'

Forbes Breaking News

During remarks on the Senate floor on Wednesday, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) spoke about the rescissions package.

Transcript

00:00Senator from North Carolina.

00:04Thank you, Mr. President.

00:05I rise today to talk about two subjects,

00:08the first of which is the vote that will begin here in about an hour and a half,

00:13and that's on this rescissions bill.

00:15I've indicated and I voted for the discharge petition

00:19and the motion to proceed last night.

00:23For those who may not know that process,

00:25voting for the discharge petition simply means that we took it out of committee.

00:30Voting for the motion to proceed simply means that we're now on the bill

00:34and we'll be considering amendments over the course of the next several hours

00:39to determine if we have member support to change the bill,

00:43to improve it from different people's perspectives.

00:47And I intend to vote for final passage at this time.

00:52I'm also looking at other amendments that maybe will make the bill better,

00:56but I also have to speak to the unique nature of this rescissions package

01:00so that we make sure that we get this right

01:04and we lay the groundwork for future rescissions.

01:07The only time that we've had a successful rescissions package in modern history

01:13was 1992.

01:16And that rescission, and by the way, for those who don't know what rescission is,

01:19it just simply means this funding will be cut.

01:22You will not be allowed to spend money in the administration.

01:27Well, in 1992, the successful rescissions package

01:31actually had significant cuts,

01:34but in every case, it had very detailed list of specific programs

01:42that were going to be cut.

01:43So then as members, when they proceeded in 1992,

01:47candidly, I wasn't even paying attention to politics back in 1992

01:50at this level,

01:53but when they were proceeding with the rescissions package,

01:56they could look at a specific line item

01:58and come to the floor like we're going to do this afternoon

02:00and say, I don't like that line item.

02:02I'm going to see if I have enough support

02:04among my colleagues to take that one out.

02:07I'll end up voting for the rescission,

02:09but I want that out because I disagree

02:10that we should be cutting the funding.

02:13In an ideal world,

02:15that success in 1992

02:17would have instructed the rescissions package

02:20we have before us today.

02:22But the reality is,

02:23is we don't have those details.

02:25I'm prepared to vote for this rescission package

02:28with the hope

02:30that I can trust those

02:33who are going to make the detailed decisions

02:34for about $7 billion

02:36of the total $9 billion rescission.

02:42About $2 billion of it

02:43is associated with National Public Radio,

02:46the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

02:48People have asked me,

02:49why wouldn't I try to vote on an amendment to cut that out?

02:51Because I believe

02:52that those organizations have drifted over time,

02:56that we probably at some point

02:58should provide funding to them,

03:00but I'm not going to fight

03:02that part of the rescission.

03:04It's at least we know exactly what it is.

03:06So members have to decide

03:07whether or not they're okay with it.

03:09I suspect we're going to find out

03:11there are some things

03:12that we're going to regret,

03:13some second and third order effects,

03:14and I suspect that when we do,

03:16we'll have to come back and fix it.

03:17Similar to what I'm trying to do

03:18with the bill I voted against

03:19a couple of weeks ago,

03:21the so-called Big Beautiful Bill,

03:24that I think we're going to have to go back

03:26and work on.

03:28But the remainder of the rescissions package

03:30really is at the top level.

03:32We have no earthly idea

03:33what specific cuts will occur.

03:36But I'm willing to give OMB

03:38and the president the benefit of the doubt

03:40that there are going to be responsible cuts.

03:43There's two kinds of areas

03:45that I'm going to be focused on in particular.

03:48There's an area that could lay the groundwork

03:51for the administration to cut

03:52roughly $200 million from a Ukraine support program.

03:58It's not the military support program.

04:00I appreciate what the president's doing

04:02in terms of finally getting to a point

04:04to where we're going to sustain support for Ukraine.

04:07This happens to be a program

04:09that some believe,

04:11if it's cut,

04:13could harm some of the non-military aid

04:16that we're providing Ukraine.

04:18I share that belief.

04:19Now, I've been told,

04:20as late as yesterday,

04:22that that will not be one of the cuts.

04:25And so I'm willing to move forward

04:26and vote on this bill

04:27on the assumption

04:28that that comes to pass.

04:30However,

04:31if we find out

04:34that some of these programs

04:35that we've communicated

04:36should be out of bounds,

04:39that advisors to the president

04:42decide that they're going to cut anyway,

04:44then there will be a reckoning for that.

04:45It won't be in this bill.

04:47But this is only a small bill.

04:48This is a $9 billion rescissions package, folks.

04:52We've been told that through Doge,

04:55there should be $1 trillion

04:56or $2 trillion in savings.

04:59The reason why it's so important

05:01to get this rescissions bill right

05:03is because if confidences are betrayed

05:07with a $9 billion bill,

05:10do you really think

05:11you're going to have the support

05:12for wide-open,

05:15trust us decision

05:17for future larger rescissions?

05:18In other words,

05:20if my confidence is betrayed here,

05:24then I won't vote

05:25for another rescissions bill

05:26unless we have that line-item programming.

05:29But I'm willing

05:30to go through this exercise,

05:31and hopefully we can trust

05:33the administration

05:33to not go down the path

05:35that we've been assured

05:36that they won't

05:37when they're enabled,

05:38they're given this broad ability

05:41to make up to about $7 billion

05:43in cuts.

05:44Now, some of them are obvious.

05:46People are going to say,

05:46well, tell us you're worried about,

05:48you know, pick some sort

05:49of liberal program

05:50in some part of the world.

05:51Obviously, we're not.

05:52There's a lot of things

05:53that we can cut

05:54where scope creep

05:55or fraud or abuse exists.

05:57But ladies and gentlemen,

05:58some of these programs

05:59will have life impacts.

06:02I was in Kenya,

06:03in Nairobi,

06:03outside of Kenya.

06:04I was at a Sudanese refugee camp

06:06a couple of months ago.

06:08And what struck me

06:11in this refugee camp

06:12were these American signs

06:14in a maternal ward

06:17with children

06:17that had distended bellies.

06:19They had flies crawling

06:21all over them.

06:22Mothers,

06:23expectant mothers sick.

06:25And they were thankful

06:27that they had that condition

06:28to bring their children to

06:30and to potentially get support

06:32for expectant mothers.

06:33They were thankful

06:34for those conditions

06:35that we would find abominable

06:37in this country.

06:38And they were willing

06:39to give the United States credit

06:41to give them those conditions.

06:43Those are the kinds of programs

06:45that I am imploring

06:47the administration

06:48to not touch

06:50when given the broad authority

06:52that they'll get with this bill.

06:54Because if they do,

06:55it could be the end

06:56to billions of dollars

06:58that we could potentially rescind

07:00if we don't do

07:01one of two things in this bill.

07:03Number one,

07:04get this authority

07:05and cut programs

07:06like I just described

07:08in Kenya

07:08or Ukraine.

07:11Or get this authority

07:13and betray a confidence

07:15with our colleagues

07:16on the other side of the aisle

07:18in a spending decision

07:19that was used

07:21to fund the government.

07:22We've got this year-end appropriation

07:24that we have to work on,

07:24September 30.

07:26We've got to fund the government.

07:28Now, how likely is it

07:30that the Democrats

07:30are going to come with us?

07:32The only way we can fund

07:32the government

07:33is to get at least

07:35seven Democrats

07:35to vote with us

07:36at the end of September 30.

07:39Or we can go into a shutdown.

07:42If I'm a Democrat

07:43and you're trying to get me

07:46to vote

07:47and get to a 60-vote threshold

07:50to fund the government

07:51and you've just betrayed

07:55a prior agreement

07:56and a prior appropriation,

07:58what are the likelihood

07:59that they're going to do that?

08:00So if we don't get agreement,

08:02if I see

08:03any rescissions

08:05that are betraying

08:06a confidence

08:06that we as U.S. senators

08:07made to get

08:08the government funded,

08:10that's going to be a problem

08:11for me in the next

08:11rescissions bill.

08:13Now, somebody may say

08:14I'm showboating

08:15or doing something else

08:16by coming to the floor

08:17and doing this,

08:18but folks,

08:18I'm trying to protect

08:19this administration

08:20from itself

08:21in terms of future decisions

08:23that will make our job

08:24more difficult

08:25to govern here.

08:26I want the president

08:28to be successful

08:29with these rescissions packages.

08:31I want the people

08:32advising him to know

08:33how they execute

08:34will determine

08:35whether or not

08:36President Trump

08:37is ultimately successful.

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