House Republicans push for spending cancellations as Elon Musk and conservatives demand deeper budget cuts

And you thought you had just figured out what "reconciliation" means in Congressional budget terms.

Here’s a new vocabulary term: rescissions.

You might not be able to spell it. But I can tell you what it does.

A "rescissions" bill "rescinds" money which Congress has already allocated, ex post facto.

For simplicity, I often describe rescissions legislation as "spending cancellations." Congress appropriated money. Then, under a recissions bill, Congress claws back dollars it previously appropriated. It’s kind of like a reverse appropriation.

And you thought that in elementary school, there were no takebacks.

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Presidential administrations send "budget requests" to Congress. This is the opposite. An administration can send a "recissions request" to Congress, too. And that’s what Budget Director Russ Vought is doing this week.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is intent on moving fast.

"I'd like to turn it around as quickly as possible," said Johnson. "There may be multiple rescissions packages coming and we’ll process them as quickly as we can. It’s a big priority for me."

Congressional conservatives and Elon Musk were not pleased with the relative paucity of spending cuts in the Big, Beautiful Bill.

Musk told CBS he was "disappointed" in the legislation.

"Which increases the budget deficit, not decreases it. And it undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing," said Musk about the hallmark of President Trump’s agenda.

By Tuesday morning, the world’s richest man incinerated the bill on X and chastised most Republicans in Congress.

Musk characterized the legislation as "a disgusting abomination." He lectured the 215 House Republicans who voted yes, declaring "you know you did wrong."

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DOGE initially set a goal of unearthing $2 trillion in spending cuts. It then slashed the threshold to $1 trillion. DOGE finally homed in on about $150 billion in cuts by the end of next year. And many of those cuts aren’t even in effect because Congress has the power of the purse.

That’s where Congress comes in with a potential rescissions package.

Most Republicans are appreciative of the efforts by DOGE and Musk.

"I think this is the beginning and the whole conversation in Congress is changed because of it," said Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., on Fox.

But DOGE evaluated "discretionary" spending. Congress has the "discretion" to spend or not spend certain money each year. That comes through the annual appropriations process. That’s why GOPers are now using their "discretion." They intend to unwind some of that spending with a rescission plan.

But the largest percentage of federal spending – by about two to one – is tied to entitlements like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, plus interest on the debt. That spending is called "mandatory." House Republicans tried to address that slightly in the Big, Beautiful Bill since it dealt with Medicaid spending. But cuts to federal departments lie in the appropriations realm and falls on the discretionary side of the ledger.

However, discretionary cuts via the Big, Beautiful Bill weren’t going to happen.

"Much of what DOGE has looked at is the discretionary spending," said Flood. "This is far more complicated than just doing it in reconciliation."

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And so here we are, with Republicans in Congress looking at the first major rescissions plan since 1993.

"The House Freedom Caucus strongly supports these critical rescissions, and we will support as many more rescissions packages the White House can send us in the coming weeks and months," said the Freedom Caucus in a statement. "There is no excuse for a Republican House not to advance the first DOGE rescissions package the same week it is presented to Congress then quickly send it for passage in the Republican Senate so President Trump can sign it into law."

The law requires the president to spend money which Congress approves. However, there are some loopholes where a President can "impound" money and not spend it.

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On CNN, Vought suggested that the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 "allows for a procedure called pocket rescissions later in the year to be able to bank some of these savings without the bill actually being passed."

Vought signaled that President Trump would likely lean on that tool. But he wants to start with an initial rescissions request.

A recissions plan requires a simple majority to pass the House. And, believe it or not, a simple majority in the Senate. There’s no 60-vote requirement to break a filibuster. Moreover, the "motion to proceed" to start debate on a recessions package is "privileged." That means the Senate only needs 51 votes to begin the process. Many "motions to proceed" in the Senate need 60 yeas and can be subject to a filibuster.

President Trump formally routed his recissions request to Capitol Hill on Tuesday. It aims to trim $9.4 billion dollars from public broadcasting and foreign aid programs. All of this is money which Musk targeted in his DOGE reviews. But these cuts only count if Congress approves them.

"I want make sure you take the first tranche and see if it passes," said Vought on the targeted set of proposed spending reductions. "The wider you do in terms of a package, the harder it is to pass. And if it doesn't pass, this is the real world. And we will lose flexibility that we have to use executive tools to find other ways to make the DOGE cuts permanent."

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Lawmakers are starting to process the rescissions proposal. Especially since Republicans often talk a good game about slashing spending.

"We'll see if Congress can step up to the plate," said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Tex., noting the political consequences of not green lighting the rescissions package. "(Members will have) to go campaign on why they want to continue to fund PBS, NPR, and a whole bunch of foreign policy and foreign funding that most Americans don't like. So you go explain it."

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., represents one of the most-Democratic leaning districts in the country. He worries about the PBS and NPR cuts.

"I have a great rapport with Nebraska Public Radio and TV. I think they've been great to work with. And so that would be one I hope they don't put in," said Bacon.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, flagged reductions to PEPFAR, short for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

"I consider that to be possibly the most successful public health program that has ever been used in Africa and other parts of the world. So I do not support the reduction in PEPFAR," said Collins.

It’s unclear whether this opening bid to cut spending – minimal as it is – can make it through Congress. Lots of Republicans will sweat this. And these are just negligible cuts. Republicans extolled the work of DOGE. But if they want to eliminate spending, they have to put their vote where their favorite program is.

We’ll know more in a few weeks whether Republicans can approve the recissions package and rescind what some characterize as wasteful spending. Otherwise, they may need to rescind those campaign promises.

Ex-boxer opens up about being granted clemency by Trump and the president potentially pardoning Diddy

Former professional boxer Duke Tanner remembers witnessing a murder on his first day in prison in 2004. 

"I watched the guy walk out the unit, blood seeping out of his neck. He dropped on the floor and ended up dying later," Tanner told Fox News Digital, recalling his thoughts at the time.

"'It's my new environment. I got to survive. I'm not going to die in here. I'm not going to be him.'"

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He wound up in jail after getting caught in a drug trafficking sting operation while trying to make additional money for his family.

"I thought it was a robbery at first. So, when I saw it was cops, I was really at peace," he said.

He was sentenced to two life terms, ending his boxing career and separating him from his family, including his son, who was just 2 at the time, for 16 years. He dedicated his time in prison to embracing Christianity and taking up every rehabilitation program available. 

And Tanner remembers the night in 2018 when he realized President Donald Trump would be the one who would end his sentence.

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"I had a dream, and I woke up," Tanner said. "I started writing a letter once a week to the White House after I had that dream, and, two years later, I was let go." 

After being denied clemency by former President Barack Obama in 2016, Tanner was granted clemency by Trump in 2020. In May, the former boxer was granted a presidential pardon. Tanner visited the White House to thank Trump in person.

"I got to thank him, and he remembered my case. And he said, 'Man, you had a bad road, but you got a beautiful son. I hear you’re doing great things. And continue the good work. I'm watching you,'" Tanner said. 

In August, Tanner published a book, "Duke Got Life: A Boxer's Fight for Freedom and One Last Shot at Redemption," detailing his story. 

Weeks after Tanner received his presidential pardon, Trump floated the idea of giving a presidential pardon to hip-hop artist Sean "Diddy" while he's on trial for sex trafficking. 

Tanner, who admits he hasn't followed the "Diddy" case closely and isn't "at liberty" to discuss the rapper's charges, revealed how he would feel about the idea of Combs getting a pardon from Trump. 

"This administration is going to read every piece of paperwork. They're going to get to the facts. They're going to get to the bottom of everything. And if he decides to make that move, it's a positive move, because he went through the system," Tanner said, referencing Trump's criminal trial last summer over alleged hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels. 

"He knows what they did to him to try and make him a convicted felon, to make him get found guilty of all those counts. So, he knows the prosecution misconduct. He knows how they do it. He knows that it's a broken system." 

Tanner also suggested Trump's pardons are a means of holding those involved in the criminal justice system accountable. 

"And he's trying to show them, 'You guys do y'all job right, or I'm going to come and fix it for you and embarrass you,'" Tanner added. 

"So, with that being said, if he decides to do it, evidently he saw something, and he got the best lawyers around him. …  I'm not at liberty to even speak on [the Diddy trial]. I don't know what's going on. I'm just saying I don't care who it was. If the president said that he wanted to do it, believe me, there's a reason behind it, and that the law wasn't handled correctly." 

Tanner said he knows a lot of other people who are incarcerated who he believes deserve clemency. 

"I definitely know there's so many men and women that need clemency to be let out of the system," Tanner said. 

Tanner has already witnessed another president give a series of controversial pardons in the last year. Former President Joe Biden granted a series of pardons before leaving office in December, including to his son Hunter Biden, who was due to be sentenced for federal gun and tax convictions. 

"I heard about it. He freed his son," Tanner said. "It can never be comparable to my own because he never went to prison. He never even got charged. I did 16 years, six months and 21 days, taken away from my 2-year-old son. … He can never compare to the pain I went through. And then I came home still fighting for other people.

"What has [Hunter] done? Have we even heard from him since he got the pardon? Did he even speak about it? Did he even thank his father about it? So, we can never compare a guy like that to me." 

Still, Tanner said he's not offended by Hunter Biden's pardon.

Trump’s Justice Department is reviewing the list of people granted pardons by former President Joe Biden in response to new concerns about Biden's use of an AutoPen to automatically sign documents and concerns about his state of mind in his final months in office, Fox News Digital previously reported

Tanner declined to comment on the investigation. 

The former boxer is focused on continuing to do community service and helping his 19-year-old nephew become a future boxing world champion. 

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