President Donald Trump has requested $15 billion in budget cuts across 14 different agencies using a budget process known as rescission, which will go into effect if the House and Senate each approve the package within 45 days via a simple majority vote. All of the funding targeted by the administration is leftover from previous years, leaving the $1.3 trillion spending package passed earlier this year untouched.
Nearly half of the package consists of two cuts to the Children’s Health Insurance Program — $5 billion from an account holding expired funds from fiscal 2017, and $2 billion from a contingency fund for unexpected enrollment surges. A further $5 billion is cut from loan guarantee programs at the Department of Energy that have not generated new loans since 2011, according to the administration.
