Peter Welch: “last week, President Trump sent to Congress a request to rescind $9.4 billion in fiscal year 2025 and 2024 funds that a…”

“last week, President Trump sent to Congress a request to rescind $9.4 billion in fiscal year 2025 and 2024 funds that a majority of Republicans and Democrats had debated and had voted for. Those appropriations were signed into law by President Trump. I want to briefly discuss the impact these rescissions would have because of the consequences for Americans, for our relationships with other governments, and for millions of people around the world. Also, I want to speak about what this does to the appropriations power and authority and responsibility of Congress. We are seeing, from my view, an abdication of article I authority that belongs under the Constitution to Congress and delegating that to the Chief Executive. It is a violation of our separation of powers, which is a pillar of the checks and balances that is essential to the well-being of our democracy. First, talking about the rescissions: The White House--as it says about everything that we do appropriate money for--the White House claims it is waste, fraud, and abuse and also claims that it contributes to the ballooning deficit. There is a contradiction here because according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the so-called Big Beautiful Bill that the President is determined to pass will add $2.4 trillion to the deficit-- $2.4 trillion. And that is before we add the increased debt service that will be required to pay it.…”