OMB Director Vought Asked If White House Will Use 'Pocket Rescission' To 'Sidestep Congress'

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00:00Republicans in Congress approved President Trump's request to cancel $9 billion in already

00:05appropriated foreign aid and $1 billion for public broadcasting.

00:11It's called a rescissions package.

00:14Is the Trump administration going to attempt another rescissions package, and what would

00:19you target if so?

00:20We're very open to it.

00:21The president will make a decision on that in the weeks ahead.

00:25But we have a lot of cuts that we've found, Department of Government Efficiency.

00:29We've sent many of those reductions up to the Hill in terms of our fiscal year 26 budget.

00:34We're taking a look as to the extent to which there are unspent fiscal year 25 funds.

00:39We're also going through a review, and sometimes we may not rescind it.

00:42This last week we released billions of dollars in education funding.

00:46It took us longer because many of those programs we have fundamental concerns with because they

00:50go to left-wing advocacy groups, and it took us a long time to make sure that they were

00:55consistent with presidential EOs.

00:57We were able to release those in time for the school year, even though they're multiyear

01:00funds.

01:02And so each funding program is different.

01:04We'll be looking at that.

01:06But we are very open.

01:07We had a very good vote in the House, in the Senate.

01:10But again, there's a debate right now on Congress as the extent to which these things upset the

01:15appropriations process.

01:16We do not believe they do.

01:18We think that the rescissions bills, in fact, make the appropriations process work and allow

01:22taxpayers to receive some dividend for the fact that we're $37 trillion in debt.

01:27But it's a push and pull that we're going through over the next several weeks.

01:30I want to ask you about that in a second.

01:32But before I do, there are reports that you're considering using something called a pocket

01:35rescission, which has essentially allowed the White House to run out the clock to sidestep

01:40Congress weighing in on additional spending cuts.

01:43Democrats say that's illegal.

01:44You can't do it.

01:45Is that a tool you're going to use?

01:46It's very possible that we might use pocket rescissions.

01:49It's one of our executive tools.

01:50It's been used before.

01:52The General Accounting Office, which we're not a big fans of, has said it was legal in

01:56the 1970s.

01:58And so Congress has come along and said, hey, we have concerns with it.

02:02It is a fully legal approach to being able to use the Impoundment Control Act, another law

02:07we're not too big fans of, to use that to be able to send up a rescissions bill later

02:13in the year and be able to have it just evaporate at the end of the fiscal year.

02:17So you said possible, but it sounded like you were about to say likely.

02:19No.

02:20We're definitely looking at it.

02:22We're looking at all options.

02:23I've said on every one of these shows, nothing is taken off the table for us to be able to

02:27deal with the deficits that we have.

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