Coalition to Congress: Support H.R. 3, the Spending Cuts to Expired and Unnecessary Programs Act

Dear Member of Congress, 

 

On behalf of the undersigned organizations and the millions of Americans that we represent, we write to express our support for the rescissions request sent to Congress by the Trump administration. We are pleased to see efforts to scale back unused and unnecessary federal spending and urge you to support this package.

 

The rescission process has been utilized by several previous Democratic and Republican administrations. This proposal requests more than $15 billion in rescinded appropriations, which makes it easily the largest rescission request offered by any President in U.S. history. As with rescission requests in the past, we believe this important step toward greater fiscal responsibility is worthy of strong bipartisan support. 

 

The targeted funding reductions apply only to unobligated funds and would not impact program operations. The request features numerous programs that are long past their expiration date or no longer functioning, such as the Energy Department’s loan program for Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing, which hasn’t made a loan since 2011 ($4.3 billion), National Emergency Grants made under American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 ($22.9 million), and leftover funding for earmarked highway projects ($86 million). 

 

With the national debt topping $21 trillion and projected deficits exceeding $1 trillion, it is clear that Washington will have to start showing greater spending discipline. While this package does not solve all of the federal government’s spending problems, it does take an important step toward achieving budgetary savings - a goal all lawmakers from both parties should enthusiastically support. 

 

The presidential rescission request to Congress is pro-taxpayer and commonsense. We encourage all Members of Congress to support its passage. 

 

Sincerely,