Tenney backs president’s initiative to address out-of-control spending
Today, Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-22) commended President Trump’s $15 billion rescission package, the largest single proposed rescission package in history. The President identified $15.4 billion in federal spending and is proposing to reduce or eliminate unobligated balances, which is money that was appropriated in years past but never actually spent.
It calls for the rescission of unspent funds within the Departments of Energy, Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Transportation, State/USAID, Treasury, and others. This tool, established in 1974, has been utilized by every President from Gerald Ford to Bill Clinton.
“Washington’s spending problem is detrimental to the safety and security of our children and grandchildren,” Tenney said. “That’s why I’ve led the fight to eliminate wasteful spending and ensure that our government works for the people. Despite the House of Representative’s continued attempts to roll back spending, the Senate has failed to take action on meaningful spending reforms. President Trump’s $15 billion rescission package is a step in the right direction towards reducing unnecessary spending and protecting our hard-working taxpayers. There is no reason that unspent taxpayer money should sit idly in unused accounts. I look forward to continuing to work with President Trump to eliminate wasteful Washington spending once and for all.”
It is important to note that the rescission package does not cut current funding for CHIP. The rescission recalls unused funding appropriated in 2015 and has zero impact on current programs or current CHIP funding. Congress reauthorized CHIP in 2017 with new funding that the rescission package does not touch. CHIP funding expired Sept. 30, 2017, and the rescission targets the previously unused funding from the 2015 package. The rescission has no impact on current programs.
Recently, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office found that rescissions from the Child Enrollment Contingency Fund would not affect payments to states that finance the CHIP program and would result in no coverage losses.
In October 2017, Tenney voted for a budget that would have saved the taxpayers $203 billion, balanced the budget within the next 10 years and reduced the deficit by $6.5 trillion. The Senate failed to take up and bring this bill to the floor for a vote.