[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 121 (Tuesday, July 15, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4345-S4346]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Rescissions

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, since day one, the Trump administration has 
been focused on identifying waste, fraud, and abuse in the Federal 
Government--something on which, I believe, the American people agree 
with him on. And last month, the administration submitted a rescissions 
package to Congress that would cut somewhere around $9 billion in 
wasteful spending, with a focus on woke and wasteful foreign aid 
dollars.
  We are going to consider that commonsense legislation this week. I 
would love to report that I expect strong support from Senators from 
both parties, but, incredibly, Democrats are melting down at the 
prospect of even the most minor cuts to Federal spending. You would 
think we were proposing to defund the entire government, from the way 
they are talking, instead of proposing cuts amounting to approximately 
one-tenth of 1 percent of the Federal budget. That is right--one-tenth 
of 1 percent of the Federal budget.

[[Page S4346]]

  This bill that is inspiring such hysteria in Democrats would cut just 
one-tenth of 1 percent, or one one-thousandth of the Federal budget.
  Now, back in the day, Democrat President Bill Clinton signed into law 
a rescissions package that was 10 times larger as a percentage of total 
government spending. Yet today's Democrats can't bring themselves to 
even contemplate cutting just one one-thousandth of the Federal budget.
  And let's remember what kind of cuts that we are talking about here. 
We are not talking about making difficult decisions about essential 
Federal programs or gutting foreign aid. We are talking about modest 
cuts to funding that has been used for things like promoting vegan food 
in Zambia, funding a pride parade in Lesotho, teaching children how to 
make environmentally friendly ``reproductive health'' decisions, making 
aid more considerate of ``sexual orientation and gender identity,'' and 
funding a ``One Health Workforce,'' curriculum, which includes material 
on ``environmental racism'' and the importance of DEI. The list goes on 
and on.
  Thankfully, the Trump administration has stopped these ridiculous 
wastes of taxpayer money. Now, it is time for those of us in Congress 
to do our part and make sure that the budget reflects these commonsense 
moves, something that every Member of this body should be able to agree 
on.
  The United States is facing serious budget issues. We saw an 
incredible growth in spending under the Biden administration, which 
took what should have been a temporary elevation in spending under 
COVID and essentially made that the government's new baseline--
permanent spending.
  In 2024, Federal spending was a staggering 54 percent higher than 
2019. My Democratic colleagues may not want to acknowledge it, but we 
have a serious spending problem in this country. And the very least we 
can do, in response, is to target some of the egregious misuses of 
taxpayer dollars that we are addressing today in this bill.
  In his recent ``Dear Colleague'' letter, the Democrat leader 
claimed--in defiance of abundant evidence to the contrary--that 
Democrats ``support ridding our federal [government] of waste, fraud, 
and abuse.''
  Well, here is a chance for the Democrat leader and his caucus to put 
their money where their mouth is. If they really support eliminating 
waste, fraud, and abuse, they can join Republicans and pass this 
legislation.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.