Kennedy votes for rescissions package to eliminate $9 billion in wasteful spending

WASHINGTON - Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) issued the following statement after the U.S. Senate approved the Trump administration's rescissions request to cut $9 billion in wasteful spending from the federal budget identified by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). This package, H.R. 4, the Rescissions Act, which accounts for one-tenth of one percent of the federal budget, returns to the U.S. House of Representatives for final consideration.

"President Trump ran on a platform of reducing the size of government and cutting unnecessary, wasteful spending. Thanks to his bold leadership and the support of the DOGE team, your hard-earned taxpayer dollars will no longer be wasted on this outrageous spending porn. American taxpayers shouldn't be footing the bill to fund woke foreign aid or activist media. Their taxpayer money should be spent on initiatives that improve their lives, put more money in their pockets, and protect our great country. I'm eager for the House to pass this bill and send it to President Trump's desk for his signature," said Kennedy.

Background:

• The Trump administration's initial rescissions package totals more than $9 billion in unnecessary spending.

• This package codifies spending cuts identified by DOGE, including $1.1 billion of cuts from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB), which provides funding to NPR and PBS, both politically biased and activist media systems, at taxpayers' expense and $7.9 billion in radical and wasteful foreign aid spending at the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), among other programs.

Some examples of the wasteful spending porn that the Rescissions Act will cut:

• $18 million to improve gender diversity in the Mexican street lighting industry.

• $6 million for media organizations and civic life for Palestinians.

• $3.9 million for LGBTQI+ populations in the Western Balkans.

• $3 million for Iraqi Sesame Street.

• $2.5 million to teach children how to make environmentally friendly "reproductive health" decisions.

• $2.4 million to make aid more considerate of "sexual orientation and gender identity."

• $1 million for voter ID in Haiti.

• $500,000 for electric buses in Rwanda.

• $500,000 for biodiversity in Peru.

Legislative Process:

• The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 requires the Executive Branch to spend the money Congress allocates each year, even though Congress allocated that money when President Biden was in office and Democrats controlled the Senate.

• Under the Impoundment Control Act, a new administration can attempt to permanently halt previously appropriated spending by submitting a rescissions request for congressional approval.

• President Trump did just that. In his initial rescission request, made in May 2025, he asked Congress to rescind roughly $8.3 billion from wasteful foreign aid programs and $1.1 billion from public broadcasting.

• The U.S. House of Representatives approved these initial cuts on June 12, 2025. The Impoundment Control Act only gives Congress 45 days to approve a rescissions request.

The full text of H.R. 4, the Rescissions Act, is available here.