Political Quotes

“Last week, both the House and the Senate voted to pass what is known as a rescissions bill. That is a term which a lot of people aren't familiar with. What it basically means is that Congress appropriates money, the President signs that appropriations request into law, and it is the policy which is supposed to guide, under the Constitution, the President of the United States and the activity of the executive branch. This is the ordinary course of events. However, there may come a time when a President decides that we don't need this expenditure, even though it has been approved and it is the law. He then goes through the rescinding of his decision to spend the money. It is called a rescissions bill. In this case, the Trump administration came to Congress and said: The $9 billion that you appropriated and directed me to spend, I don't want to spend. I want your permission not to spend it--$9 billion. That is what we voted on and the House voted on last week. What was in this bill were primarily two major elements. One element was foreign aid, humanitarian assistance around the world paid for by the United States. The other element was public broadcasting--National Public Radio, for example. So $8 billion was taken out of foreign aid, and $1 billion was taken away from public broadcasting.”