Trump’s wish list of budget eliminations connect with his overall efforts to get rid of programs he opposes. And that connects as well to his more recent move to rescind some of the money Congress already authorized for specific programs.

On May 8, the Trump administration submitted a request to Congress to pull back $15.4 billion already approved for funding various programs. It’s called a “rescission.” On June 5, the White House had amended the rescission request, removing some cuts and modifying others.

As of June 7, CNN reported, the House had approved the president’s proposal by a narrow vote – 210 to 206. The rescissions, according to CNN, are unlikely to go far in the Senate. Conservative groups urge passage of the package, while Democrats are attacking the proposed cuts. “While the package nixes $15 billion, the Congressional Budget Office estimated it will essentially only save the government about $1 billion,” according to CNN.

Rescission 2018

“At the direction of President Trump, the Office of Management and Budget has worked diligently to identify wasteful and unnecessary spending already approved by Congress,” said Russ Vought, deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Specifically, the White House, said, “the proposed rescissions affect programs of the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, and the Treasury, as well as of the Corporation for National and Community Service, Environmental Protection Agency, Railroad Retirement Board, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and the United States Agency for International Development.”

According to the nonprofit Bipartisan Policy Center, Trump’s move to rescind approved funding is unusual – at least for a president. “This budget tool is not regularly used by a president; the last time was by the Clinton administration,” the BPC says on its website. “While it is unusual for a president to seek a rescission, Congress itself regularly does rescission packages within annual supplemental appropriations so that funds that have not been spent can be used elsewhere.”

Vought cast the president’s rescission request in a somewhat different light. “While this authority hasn’t been used in nearly two decades, every president from Gerald Ford to Bill Clinton successfully rescinded funds,” he wrote. “From 1974 to 2000, approximately 40 (percent) of presidential rescission proposals were enacted in some form. Members of Congress in both parties have supported rescissions packages similar to the one President Trump is proposing.” Read more.