Rescinding Roughly $15 Billion in Unspent Budget Authority From Prior Fiscal Years (H.R. 3)

What is H.R. 3?

(Updated September 15, 2019)

This bill — the Spending Cuts to Expired and Unnecessary Programs Act — would rescind about $14.7 billion in unused budget authority from previous fiscal years. “Unused budget authority” means that the funds are sitting idle in agency accounts and are unable to be legally spent without a new authorization from Congress or will go unused because a program is dormant (which is why such funds are often used as offsets for new spending). A breakdown of the larger rescissions in this bill can be found below.

This bill would rescind:

• $5.1 billion from the Children’s Health Insurance Fund that was allocated in 2015 but has gone unused as the ability to transfer the funds to states expired on September 30, 2017. As a result, the CBO estimates this will have no impact on CHIP enrollment.

• $4.3 billion from the Dept. of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program. This would effectively eliminate the program, which has only produced five loans since its creation in 2007.

• $1.9 billion from the Child Enrollment Contingency Fund, of which there was $2.4 billion available on March 23, 2018 as no states are expected to need a contingency fund payment in 2018.

• $800 million from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation account that’s leftover from previous authorizations and in excess of what’s needed for fiscal years 2018 and 2019.

• $499 million from the Dept. of Agriculture's Farm Security and Rural Investment Programs account, which had a balance of $1.5 billion on October 1, 2017. This rescission would include $356 million in balances for programs that weren't extended in 2014, and $144 million in balances from FY2014 through FY2017.

• $220 million from the Dept. of Health and Human Service’s (HHS) Nonrecurring Expenses Fund, which had $510 million available on October 1, 2017.

• $160 million from the DOE’s Title 17 Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program which would eliminate the program, as it has only made three loan guarantees related to a single project since its inception.

• $141 million from the Treasury Dept.’s Capital Magnet Fund which provides funding to housing nonprofits and Community Development Financial Institutions to finance affordable housing projects, which is inconsistent with the administration’s policies.

• $132 million from the Railroad Retirement Board’s Railroad Unemployment Insurance Extended Benefits Payments account as the program expired at the end of 2012 and the remaining funds are no longer needed.

• $106 million from the Dept. of Justice’s (DOJ) Assets Forfeiture Fund, which totaled $1.3 billion on October 1, 2017 which aren’t needed to carry out the program in FY2018.

Argument in favor

Every now and then Congress needs to do some spring cleaning and clawback funding it had previously allocated that went unspent. Rescinding $15 billion in taxpayer dollars that were sitting idle helps put the government on a better fiscal footing.

Argument opposed

Rescinding $15 billion in budget authority that federal agencies aren’t currently using is unwise, as circumstances could change and then they'll have to go back to Congress asking for money to deal with the problem.

Impact

Relevant federal agencies; taxpayers; and the federal deficit.

Cost of H.R. 3

The CBO estimates that enacting this bill would reduce budget authority by about $14.7 billion and spending by about $1.1 billion over the 2018-2028 period. Further, it estimates that the rescission of funds from a CHIP account would have no effect on the number of individuals with insurance coverage.

Additional Info

In-Depth: House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) released the following statement on the introduction of this bill to rescind unused budget authority from prior fiscal years:

“President Trump has submitted to Congress a package of spending cuts to expired or unnecessary programs and Congress is prepared to act on those rescissions. Returning this money to the treasury is the type of budgetary spring-cleaning that ensures our government practices prudence with hard-earned taxpayer dollars. Through the Impoundment Act, Congress will once again use a creative tool to address the challenges facing our country and put our fiscal and economic footing on more solid ground.”

House Democrats have expressed opposition to this bill, with Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) urging them to vote against it:

“While Republicans assert that none of these funds will ever be needed, they’ve already had to admit this is false. The original rescissions package cut funding to combat ebola that the Administration claimed was not needed -- just before a new ebola outbreak began in Africa that caused the Administration to drop that provision from the package. It is essential that this irresponsible package be rejected.”

This legislation has the support of 13 cosponsors in the House, all of whom are Republicans. The White House expressed support for the bill in a statement of administration policy.

Media:

• House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) Press Release
  
• White House Statement of Administration Policy
  
• White House Rescission Request (Original)
• White House Rescission Request Changes
• House Democratic Whip Notice (Opposed)
  
• CBO Cost Estimate
• CBO Cost Estimate (Original)
  
• CBO Cost Estimate (CHIP Rescission)
  
• The Hill
  
• Roll Call