Republicans Block Democrats’ Bill to Stop Trump from Robbing the American People with “Pocket Rescissions”

*** WATCH : Senator Murray’s remarks*** Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray, Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, joined Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, in seeking unanimous consent to pass a commonsense bill to stop President Trump from robbing the American people through illegal “pocket rescissions.” But Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) blocked the bill, which would (1) nullify the illegal “pocket rescission” that President Trump announced on Friday and (2) prevent the president from attempting to use a “pocket rescission” again by forbidding any president from submitting rescissions requests under the Impoundment Control Act with fewer than 90 days before the funds expire. This ensures Congress can act on the request and presidents cannot try to simply run out the clock. Democrats have repeatedly sought to bar the Trump administration from so much as attempting this illegal maneuver—when marking up draft Senate spending bills, in votes on the floor , and in negotiations over spending packages, including negotiations over the continuing resolution that was recently signed into law . But Republicans have rejected every Democratic attempt over the last 18 months to enact new protections against pocket rescissions. Senator Murray’s remarks ahead of the attempt to pass the bill, as delivered, are below: “Thank you to my colleague from Oregon for setting out what is going on here because, as he said, on Friday night, President Trump announced that he was stealing more money from the American people. Trump and his budget director Russ Vought call it a ‘pocket rescission.’ Well, whatever you call it, it’s illegal. “Trump is taking the bipartisan funding that we passed—funding that Democrats and Republicans agreed on, that he signed into law—and he is now ripping out the pages he doesn’t like. Forget about ideas like Congress and the law. “ Look, this is theft from the American people—plain and simple. In this case, Trump is tearing away funding to help Americans buy a home, he’s cutting off funds for health care research which would prevent things like dangerous hospital infections that are dangerous or saving taxpayers literally billions of dollars. “ But you know what, Trump could not care less. While he blows your tax dollars on an illegal war, Trump is illegally cutting off funding for health research, housing, and more. “And I guess that’s no surprise given how this President is constantly out-of-touch with American families, saying ‘tariffs’ is his favorite word, ore saying he loves inflation, or saying he wants housing costs to go up—he said that. “But where are my Republican colleagues who helped pass these funds that Trump is now stealing? Because this didn’t come out of left field. No one can pretend to be surprised by what is happening now. “When Russ Vought was nominated as Trump’s budget chief, he was pretty darn transparent about the fact that he planned to break the law, he planned to tear up our bills, and he dared us to stop him. But that didn’t stop every Republican Senator from voting for him—and when his deputy was nominated and told us this summer that pocket rescissions were very much still on the table, what happened? Once again, every Senate Republican voted to confirm him too. “ Anyone watching could see this coming from a mile away—Trump used this scheme to unlawfully impound $5 billion last summer, for heaven’s sake. That’s why Democrats have fought again, and again, and again, to prevent the president from being able to use this illegal tactic, including in recent negotiations over the CR that’s now law. “ But Republicans have refused to work with us to prevent Trump and Russ Vought from stealing from the American people. Time, after time, after time, they have shot down our attempts to stop this administration from defying Congress and robbing our constituents. “Let’s talk more about this ‘pocket rescission’ scheme for a minute and what’s at stake. President Trump and Russ Vought are saying: ‘Hey, we can ignore the law, we can ignore bipartisan deals, and just make our own decisions, as long as we do it last minute.’ “Everyone knows that is ridiculous and illegal. Congress would never have created a system that gave any President the ability to decide to just ignore or bypass a law. “ It makes no sense. And in fact, GAO has looked at what this President has done and has said it’s clearly illegal—twice. Now, my Republican colleagues know some of this, some of them have even said so. But whenever they have had the chance, they have not joined us to put an end to this. Democrats had language Republicans could have let us put in the last CR, or the CR before it. “We’ve taken vote after vote on versions of this language—on the floor, and in committee—and, of course, we had the vote where Republicans confirmed the un-abashed architect of Trump’s illegal scheme as Budget Director. “Well now they are getting one more chance. Senator Merkley and I and others have a bill to help Congress re-assert its authority—our authority—and head off Trump’s completely illegal pocket rescission scheme. “We should be clear: Trump isn’t just illegally robbing our constituents through this pocket rescission. There are a whole lot of other funds that he is refusing to get out the door: more health research funding, grants to prevent teen pregnancy, funding to protect Americans from global health threats, and even a quarter of a billion dollars to help families in rural areas get the financing they need to finally achieve their dream of owning a home. “Hundreds of families in rural America will be denied the shot to buy a home as Trump lights this money on fire tonight. “ So, it’s not just the pocket rescission—it’s all the rest of the money this administration is holding up or misspending . And Republicans have been pretty quiet about it. “Russ Vought has always made his message to Congress painfully clear: he thinks the votes that we all take here don’t count. He thinks the laws we pass are optional. “ Now is the time for our Republican colleagues who said they would never let this happen to help us pass a bill that makes our message to Russ Vought equally clear: stop stealing from our constituents and start following our laws. ” ###