Defend the Taxpayer. Pass the Rescissions.

For far too long, both parties have allowed waste, fraud, and abuse to fester in nearly every corner of the federal budget while hardworking Americans foot the bill. It’s time to reverse course and pass the rescissions package for the good of the taxpayer.  

House Republicans have already done our job. We passed a package that claws back tens of billions in wasteful, unspent, or misused funds. These are not controversial cuts. They’re common sense—the kind of decisions every hardworking American family has to make when balancing their own budgets. We eliminated $33,000 for “Being LGBTI in the Caribbean,” $3 million for Iraqi Sesame Street, and $3 million for sexual reproductive health in Venezuela. That’s not radical—it’s responsible. 

Now, it’s the Senate’s turn. Every day they delay, taxpayers continue to lose. 

Let’s be clear: These rescissions are not about cutting services for those who are truly vulnerable. They are about restoring integrity by cutting a bloated, mismanaged federal budget. We are preserving safety nets—but we’re not going to keep subsidizing fraud, waste, and Washington special interests. The only people who lose under these rescissions are the lobbyists, bureaucrats, and politically connected grifters who’ve made a career off taxpayers. 

Opponents of the bill will claim we’re going too far, but the federal debt is over $37 trillion and growing. Interest payments alone are projected to soon exceed what we spend on national defense. This is not a sustainable path. If we don’t start making real reforms now, we will lose the ability to fund our military, protect seniors, or respond to future crises. Inaction is not fiscal moderation—it’s surrender. 

President Donald Trump supports cutting wasteful spending and restoring fiscal sanity to Washington. He knows, as every business owner does, that you can’t build a strong future on a foundation of fiscal mismanagement. That’s why I’ve worked closely with his administration to target the worst abuses, rein in bureaucracies, and direct the limited resources where they actually matter. These rescissions are part of that broader mission. 

Every Republican in Congress ran on a platform of fiscal responsibility. Now is the moment to prove we meant it. If the Senate fails to act, it will own every penny of waste that remains in the budget, and it will have to explain to the American people why Washington always seems to protect itself, never them. 

The choice is simple: Defend the taxpayer or defend the swamp. 

Pass the rescissions. Clean up the mess. And let’s start building a future worthy of the people we serve. 

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.