Hi.
[Inaudible]
What's your reaction to, uh, the X message by Elon Musk?
Uh, we think the bill is a very good one. We think it's very strong fiscally. Uh, nothing's changed from our view of the world. We understand where he's coming from. But, uh, if you -- if you have an accurate baseline, uh, that treats taxes the same way it treats spending, this budget, uh, is $1.6 trillion in mandatory savings, uh, it's the most historic amount of mandatory reforms that this town has ever seen.
Uh, and certainly we haven't seen anything like it since the -- the mid-1990s with welfare reform. Uh, and it's a $1.4 trillion, uh, improvement to deficits and debt. So, look, I don't -- I don't think there's any way that you could possibly suggest this is not a fiscally responsible bill.
How are you addressing concerns from Republicans in the Senate who are concerned about the -- the impact on the deficit?
We're working with them. Uh, we're taking their ideas. We're talking with them. Um, we're happy the votes are there. We're happy to go further in terms of finding savings. Uh, but again, uh, one of the missions that I've had is just to provide a -- a zoom out perspective historically about how much is being done in this bill.
I think people should be excited about it. Uh, the people who voted for it, the fiscal hawks, uh, should be excited about this bill. If we can go further, we can go further, and I think the Senate will put their stamp on it. Um, and that work is going on and we're having a lot of conversations with Senators, and I'm very optimistic about that.
Uh, but this is not something that, um, uh, there should be any negativity from a fiscal standpoint at all with regard to this bill.
Do you have any reaction to Elon Musk attacking the bill?
No. I said earlier, I -- you know, I'm not surprised with where he is on it. I think it's a -- a result of the -- the D.C. watchdogs, um, that are poli- -- they're either policy agnostic or have institutional ways that they look at scoring these bills that I think are flat out inaccurate. And as a result, we need to just continue to tell our story on it.
What about Elon's, uh, thread here on social media to vote out members of Congress?
I haven't seen any, uh, thread on -- on Twitter. I'm sure I'll take a look at it, so I can't comment on it.
Are you having -- does his message, Elon Musk's message, makes your pitch to Congress, to Republicans harder?
I think that it's important for us to get our message out. Uh, I think we're in the process of doing that. I think the facts are on our side. Um, you know, the reality of this is we have massive levels of -- of savings in this bill, something we haven't seen in this town. Uh, are we gonna have to continue to have those conversations?
We have not won the vote yet. Uh, but I'm -- I'm -- I'm fully confident that we will get there. And -- and I think that the -- you know, this debate will help inform the American people, and I think it's one that will be, uh, entirely constructive at the end of the day.
Some of these lawmakers are saying they're absolutely not gonna change their mind. I mean, what are you doing? What are you saying to them to try and move the needle here?
I think that we are -- we're hearing them out. We're hearing, uh, what is their particular issues? We're hearing their ideas. Uh, we'll be having meetings all through this week, and, um, I think we'll continue to make progress.
Where are you willing -- where are you willing to make some concessions?
I don't -- I don't think this is about concessions. I think if -- if there's a -- if there's an ability to go further, uh, and have savings that don't upset the apple cart in the House, um, I think we're open to that. But they have a three seat majority in the House. Uh, the Senate is a tight majority as well.
Um, we've gotta get people comfortable what the House did in the Senate while at the same time seeing what we could do, uh, more of. And I think these are all things that, you know, I -- I said this to the Speaker yesterday, I think the process that he ran in the house, uh, was an incredible one, uh, in hearing out his members.
Uh, and at the end of the day, there, it wasn't that dramatic of a -- of a vote. I mean, they passed it. It's not like the vote was held open for a couple hours. It's because they had, had so many conversations beforehand, uh, to get to the place that they did. And I -- I think the Senate's gonna do that now.
We're a part of that and I think it's something that, uh, you know, I think by the end of this process, and hopefully by the -- you know, the -- the start of July we'll be in a good place.
You talked about [Inaudible] first.
Can you explain why to people who may say -- and not understand why you're not sending all of the DOGE cuts up to Capitol Hill?
Yeah, I've been pretty clear about it. Uh, I wanted to make sure that they pass and so --
Well, why can't you send all of them and get all of them to pass?
Because I want to make sure that they -- you take the first tranche and see if it passes. The -- the -- the wider you do in terms of a package, the -- the harder it is to pass. And if it doesn't pass, this is the real world, and we will lose flexibility that we have to use executive tools to find other ways to make the DOGE cuts permanent.
But --
Can you explain that directly to Elon Musk. I mean, have you made this case to Elon directly?
I'm explaining it to everyone.
While you eat lunch?
How, how many resistance packages do you expect?
We will send up more if the President is, is, is on board with that as, as we see evidence of Congress passing them. This is the first step in it. Um, we're, I think it'll be on the floor next week, according to what, what the speaker told me, uh, uh, yesterday. And then, we'll, from there, we'll see where we are in the Senate.
But again, uh, we wanna see it pass. I think it will pass, and then we'll go from there.
You got that right. What other cuts --
You, you said you would look at other ways. What are those other ways that you would seriously consider absent this moving forward?
We have executive tools. We have the same, the, the very Empowerment Control Act itself gives us the ability to send up rescissions at the end of the fiscal year, and if Congress does not act on it, that funding expires. So, this has been used rare. Most people don't know about the process. We call it Pocket Rescissions, but again, it's one of the reasons why we are not putting all of our, our expectations in a typical rescissions process.
And just give you a sense, the President was the first person to dust off rescissions, uh, in his first term. We hadn't done it in 20 years. And, uh, we -- we literally, just because we wanted to get it, the process moving again, we, we selected what we call unobligated balance funds. And, and the House passed it, the Senate did not.
And so, this precarious is hard work and we wanna make sure it's successful. And we don't wanna take, uh, our flexibility and our trade space off of the table that we have to be able to from an executive standpoint just not make the, just not spend the money, uh, using particular different options. We don't wanna lose any of our flexibility as a result of a failed vote in Congress.
Can you -- [Inaudible]?
You comment on the nature of this negotiation?
-- together this particular round of rescissions in this first one you sent over to the Hill?
We, we, we go through a process, and we figure out what's ready to go. We have our own strategic view of what we wanna send to the Hill, and the kinds of, uh, things that we wanna highlight.
Your report --
Can you comment on the nature of this negotiation? I mean, in the old days, if the White House was having trouble getting a bill passed on, on Capitol Hill, they'd throw in a couple of bridges in a couple of districts and you'd use spending to get the bill over the line. Now, you know, the, the fight is about the spending itself, right?
So, you can't really do that. So, what do you offer these members if it's not spending in their districts?
Well, I reject the premise that we're having a hard time getting the bill across Congress. I mean, the thing just passed the House. We've had about a week in between. Uh, it was a historically significant action by the House, and we're, uh, in the midst of very, very positive conversations with the Senate.
So I, I, I think we're in a good place. Uh, I think that, uh, the, the Senate conference is very united. Uh, and I think, you know, I'm looking forward to what they're able to produce.
How much are you looking for in total savings from this in multiple packages that we can follow up?
What are we talking about?
Uh, with the various ah -- avenues we have with rescissions, like, how much money and, uh, have you made that case to Rand Paul or Ron Jones?
Uh, we'll be, you know, outlining our full picture, uh, in the days and weeks ahead. I mean, we have $160 billion that we put forward for fiscal year '26 as part of the budget that we sent up. Uh, that is, uh, you know, our look ahead to the next fiscal year about what these Doge cuts would look like. Uh, and then we're in the process always of looking back into the current fiscal year.
We're, we're into it about what is still on, obligated, and what we can do, and that's a, a day by day thing. Uh, but we are certainly, uh, willing and, and able to send up additional packages as the Congressional will is there. Thanks guys.
Okay, thank you so much.