White House will send DOGE cuts to Congress as Republicans like Mike Lee ramp up pressure – Deseret News

The White House will send a formal rescissions package to Congress early next week to codify a slew of spending cuts implemented by the Department of Government Efficiency, a Trump administration official familiar with talks confirmed to the Deseret News.

The Trump administration will deliver the $9.4 billion rescissions package as early as Tuesday, following calls from Republican lawmakers to codify the billions of dollars in spending cuts identified by Elon Musk since the creation of DOGE in late January.

The package is expected to include some of Musk’s most controversial proposals, such as slashed funding for PBS, NPR and the United States Agency for International Development.

The package comes after an online pressure campaign from conservative lawmakers to compile a formal request to green-light the spending cuts, arguing they must be approved by Congress to be codified into law.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has been among the most vocal to receive that package, ramping up messages on social media over the weekend pushing for a vote in Congress.

“I’m eager to see this rescissions package, which reportedly makes some DOGE cuts permanent,” Lee told the Deseret News in a statement. “This would be a great step toward restoring the fiscal responsibility we have promised to the American people.”

It’s not clear if the rescissions package has already been written or what cuts will be included, but some lawmakers such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., say they were told that text would be available as soon as Monday. The package is expected to touch on only a handful of proposed DOGE cuts, specifically targeting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and some foreign aid agencies.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said on Wednesday that the House would consider the DOGE cuts package as early as possible, lauding the commission’s work “exposing waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal government.”

Some of those cuts will be approved in the rescissions package, Johnson said, while others will wait to be passed in Congress’ annual budget scheduled for the end of September.

The White House was initially expected to send the proposed spending cuts to Congress in early May, but those plans were delayed as House Republicans continued work to advance Trump’s massive tax reconciliation bill. The House passed that budget framework last week, opening the door for GOP leaders to turn their attention to the rescissions package.

“The House is eager and ready to act on DOGE’s findings so we can deliver even more cuts to big government that President Trump wants and the American people demand,” Johnson said.

Musk expressed disappointment in the budget resolution passed by the House, telling CBS News this week the megabill “increases the budget deficit” and “undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing.”

“A bill can be big or it can be beautiful,” Musk told the outlet. “But I don’t know if it can be both.”

Lee responded to that post by suggesting Republicans could tuck DOGE cuts into the budget resolution as it makes its way through the Senate, although White House officials were quick to warn that may not be possible under the strict parameters of the reconciliation process.

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said on Tuesday the DOGE cuts must be approved in a separate package because it deals with discretionary spending, meaning the annual costs authorized by Congress through the appropriations process.

Meanwhile, the reconciliation package can only tinker with mandatory spending, referring to costs that are required by law and are not annually approved by lawmakers.

“The Big Beautiful Bill is NOT an annual budget bill and does not fund the departments of government. It does not finance our agencies or federal programs,” Miller said in a post on X. “Instead, it includes the single largest welfare reform in American history. Along with the largest tax cut and reform in American history. The most aggressive energy exploration in American history. And the strongest border bill in American history. All while reducing the deficit.”

Still, even without the DOGE cuts being included in the tax reconciliation package, Lee says he wants a more aggressive version of the budget framework before it can pass the Senate — suggesting some of those DOGE cuts could be included.

“Not everything for DOGE could be done through reconciliation, but I think when most people talk about the DOGE cuts, most Americans probably are not contemplating that distinction between discretionary and nondiscretionary,” Lee told the “Charlie Kirk Show” on Wednesday. “But they do want to see aggressive action. That’s what they’re calling for here.”