President Trump and congressional Republicans could target up to about $117 billion in spending on nondefense government programs this year, leaving Democrats unable to do anything about it.
That figure represents the difference between the Trump administration’s request for domestic nondefense spending and the levels reflected in the omnibus spending bill Congress passed on a bipartisan basis last month.
Now, the Trump administration is preparing to claw back some of the spending set in the omnibus via the Impoundment Act, a tool not used in recent years.
Through impoundment, Trump can propose to rescind authorized spending, and budget experts believe that Congress can follow through with just a simple majority vote — avoiding the Democratic filibuster in the Senate that required Republicans to negotiate with Democrats in the first place.
Trump could propose to cut any of the $1.3 trillion in government spending that was included in the omnibus spending bill, likely targeting nondefense spending.
Democrats and Republicans set domestic, nondefense spending at $579 billion for the fiscal year. But Trump, in his budget, proposed holding that category of spending to just $462 billion.
The difference of $117 billion is, in effect, the theoretical outer limit of what the White House could seek to cut, according to Paul Van de Water, a budget expert at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-of-center think tank. “It’s impossible to imagine they would propose rescissions approaching anywhere near that number,” he said.
It’s worth noting that nondefense appropriations are a small component of overall government spending. Non-defense discretionary spending accounted for just 15 percent of spending in 2017, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare made up about half of spending.
Yet, nondefense discretionary spending is what Trump has the ability and stated desire to cut through impoundment.
In his fiscal 2019 budget, for instance, Trump called for saving money by eliminating, among other programs:
- The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program or LIHEAP ($3.4 billion in one-year savings)
- International financial assistance for global climate change initiatives ($160 million)
- Funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting ($480 million)
- Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grants ($3 billion)
He also proposed cutting:
- Amtrak grants by $757 million
- HUD rental Assistance Programs by $4.2 billion
- The Federal Work Study program by $790 million
- State Department Educational and Cultural Exchange programs $475
Just because Trump’s budget called for those cuts, though, does not mean that he and congressional Republicans actually want to see them through. In fact, many House and Senate Republicans would likely balk at most of them.
Furthermore, the Impoundment Act contains language allowing the president to rescind spending that will “not be required to carry out the full objectives or scope” of government programs, meaning that some spending cuts could run afoul of the process.
Nevertheless, the $117 billion difference between what Republicans negotiated with Democrats and Trump’s own budget shows just how much discretion the White House has to claw back spending.
