The House's proposed fiscal year 2027 appropriations bills contain 51 rescissions that would cancel nearly $13.7 billion in previously approved budget authority, but instead of reducing the deficit, lawmakers are using those savings to offset higher spending elsewhere, according to a new analysis from the National Taxpayers Union Foundation. The report argues Congress should treat these rescissions as standalone spending reductions that could eliminate unnecessary budget authority and reduce future deficits.
The Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill contains the largest share of proposed rescissions, with nine cuts totaling $7.8 billion. Four bills—Energy and Water, Financial Services and General Government, Interior, and Legislative Branch—don't include any proposed rescissions at all. The 12 House appropriations bills together would provide $1.894 trillion in net budget authority, which represents a $162 billion increase, or 9.4%, above fiscal year 2026 levels. Meanwhile, unobligated budget authority has surged in recent years: at the end of fiscal year 2015, $199 billion remained unobligated, but by the end of fiscal year 2025, that figure had grown to $551 billion. At the end of the third quarter of fiscal year 2026, $1.078 trillion was unobligated.
The report emphasizes that rescissions included in appropriations bills often function as budgetary gimmicks rather than genuine deficit reduction. These rescissions frequently target old, unneeded budget authority that agencies may never fully spend, meaning the unneeded funds can be replaced by new budget authority that's more likely to be fully spent. According to the report, a rescission used to offset new spending in an appropriations bill is "used up," meaning it can't be enacted as a standalone spending cut to reduce the deficit. The Government Accountability Office found Congress initiated an average of 96 rescissions annually between fiscal years 2000 and 2020, and in the fiscal year 2026 enacted appropriations bills, Congress included more than 100 rescissions totaling $55 billion.
The analysis explains that rescissions work by canceling budget authority that was previously appropriated, which prevents federal agencies from incurring obligations and spending funds. To the extent the rescinded budget authority would otherwise have been spent, this reduces the deficit by preventing future outlays. However, when rescissions are embedded in appropriations bills rather than enacted as standalone measures, they allow Congress to increase net total spending. The Impoundment Control Act created a process allowing the President to propose rescissions under an expedited process that bypasses the Senate filibuster, making it a powerful tool to control waste. President Trump has revived the practice, and Congress passed a $9 billion rescissions package using this process in July 2025.
The report concludes that the federal budget is on an unsustainable trajectory and urges Congress and the President to use rescissions to eliminate unnecessary budget authority rather than finance higher spending elsewhere. The Administration should have a process in place to review unspent budget authority, and any funds determined to be wasteful or not needed should be officially proposed for rescission. When congressional spending committees propose cutting budget authority, that should be a clear indicator the funds are strong candidates for rescission. With more than $1 trillion in unobligated budget authority sitting unused, the report's message is clear: rescissions should cut waste and deficits, not create room for new spending.