Vice President JD Vance told House Republicans on Tuesday that the administration would put forward a rescissions package to codify spending cuts as part of his attempt to convince GOP holdouts to back House leaders’ six-month stopgap spending measure.
Vance was not specific on the timing or vehicle for such a package, but said the cuts identified by the Elon Musk-led “Department of Government Efficiency” would be enshrined in future legislation, House Republicans leaving the morning GOP conference meeting said.
Republican leaders are trying to keep the rank and file on board for the continuing resolution that’s currently set for a vote after 4 p.m. Tuesday. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., is a dug-in “no” vote, and a handful of other members have expressed reservations.
The measure got over an early procedural hurdle when the chamber adopted the rule for floor debate on Tuesday afternoon. Massie was the lone member to switch sides, voting against the rule which was adopted 216-214.
Democrats are expected to widely vote against the measure, which would cut nondefense spending by $13 billion while giving defense spending a $6 billion boost, according to House Republicans.
Democrats have denounced the CR as a “blank check” and a “power grab” by the Trump administration to spend money however it wishes. They have sought a provision to protect the congressional “power of the purse” as Trump and DOGE fire thousands of federal workers, freeze funding for some programs and guts agencies like the U.S. Agency for International Development.
House Appropriations Committee ranking member Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said she felt “very good” about her party staying united against the bill, and said she hoped Congress would pivot next to a short-term CR that would pave the way for eventual full-year bills.
‘We’ll have the votes’
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., expressed confidence Tuesday morning that Republicans could pass the continuing resolution without Democratic support, despite their razor-thin margin.
“We’ll have the votes,” Johnson said at his weekly news conference after the GOP conference meeting. “We’ll pass the CR. We can do it on our own.”
Massie, the only publicly declared “no” vote currently among House Republicans, drew a threat from President Donald Trump to work against his reelection next year. “He should be primaried and I will lead the charge against him,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
When asked about Trump’s threat, Johnson declined to endorse it, saying, “I’m in the incumbent protection program here.” Johnson called Massie “a thoughtful guy” who was “doing what he thinks is right on this.”
Hoping to increase the pressure on some Democrats who may be wavering in their opposition to the stopgap bill, Johnson posted a video on X, formerly Twitter, that compiled clips of Democrats attacking Republicans in previous years for being willing to trigger a government shutdown.
“But now they’re supporting one,” Johnson wrote. “What’s changed? They’re willing to do ANYTHING to stop President Trump from implementing his agenda.”
In a rare appearance at a House GOP leadership news conference, the chairman of the rebellious Freedom Caucus, Maryland Rep. Andy Harris, expressed his support for the continuing resolution.
The Freedom Caucus traditionally opposes stopgap funding extensions, he said, because they typically lead to an omnibus package that allows for what they view as excessive spending. But the new continuing resolution would last for the rest of the fiscal year, through September, and represents a net cut in discretionary spending. “This is not your grandfather’s continuing resolution,” Harris said.
Johnson and his leadership team appeared confident enough that they’ll have the votes on the CR that they canceled votes for the rest of the week after Tuesday’s floor activities. They moved up consideration of an unrelated bill on cryptocurrency tax reporting requirements, previously expected for Wednesday.
House Democrats have their policy retreat in Leesburg, Va., starting Wednesday and running through the remainder of the week.
Banking savings
Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, said some House Republicans are pushing for the rescissions approach that Vance has backed. It will be easier for some House Republicans, himself included, to vote to continue current spending levels if they know a plan to codify “DOGE” cuts is in the works.
“The reality is, let us run the course, and there will be a point where we’re like, OK, let’s bank some of these savings,” Davidson said.
House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said the rescissions package would likely be separate from fiscal 2026 appropriations, which will also feature spending cuts.
“They’d like to actually have the savings,” Cole said. “You can stop the spending, but it’s still sitting in the department, actually [Vance] talked about that a lot. So I think you’ll see both a rescission package and appropriations.”
Under the 1974 law establishing the modern congressional budget process, there’s an avenue for the president to recommend a series of rescissions, or clawbacks of unobligated funding. But it requires congressional approval within a time-limited period or the White House has to release the money.
Senate Republicans pitched Musk on this approach last week during a closed-door meeting, arguing that the method of cutting funds was on more solid legal footing than the current Trump strategy of freezing grants and contracts, which courts have blocked in some cases.
Senate Budget Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is one proponent of the idea, which he said Musk endorsed. “What we got to do as Republicans is capture their work product, put it in a bill and vote on it,” Graham said last week.
The last time lawmakers tried to pass a presidential rescissions package was during the first Trump administration in 2018; it passed the House with many more GOP “no” votes than Republican leaders can afford with their current razor-thin margin. Then the $15 billion bill fell short in the Senate, and the effort died.
Alternatively, or as a complement to that formal rescissions process, appropriators typically rescind unspent funds as part of the regular spending bills. That’s another avenue to codify some of DOGE’s work as the fiscal 2026 appropriations process begins.
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