Congress votes to automatically slash civilian spending by 5% annually
S. 360 — A bill to provide for across-the-board rescissions of nonsecurity discretionary spending. · Filed by Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) · Introduced Feb 3, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill automatically cuts 1% of non-military federal spending in 2026, 2% in 2027, and 5% annually thereafter, applied evenly across all civilian agencies. The cuts take effect after each year's full budget is enacted and are reported to Congress but cannot be reversed without new legislation.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole mechanism is a mandatory rescission of nonsecurity discretionary appropriations on a pro rata basis, escalating over time. It is a straightforward fiscal constraint mechanism with no hidden provisions or riders.
What the text implies
- The pro rata (equal percentage) cut applies uniformly regardless of program criticality, meaning essential services (food safety, air traffic control, disease surveillance) face the same percentage reduction as lower-priority programs.
- Escalating cuts (1% → 2% → 5%) create compounding budget pressure; by 2028 and beyond, a 5% annual cut may force agencies to choose between program elimination and service degradation rather than modest efficiency gains.
- The bill does not specify which programs absorb cuts, delegating that choice to OMB and agency leadership; Congress loses direct control over spending priorities and trade-offs.
- Rescissions are automatic and triggered by enactment of the full-year budget; they cannot be waived or suspended without new legislation, removing flexibility for emergency or crisis response.
- The bill exempts security (military and defense) spending, concentrating cuts on civilian agencies; this shifts the fiscal burden away from defense and toward social, environmental, and infrastructure programs.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Across-the-board cuts to civilian federal spending reduce funding for public services, infrastructure, research, and safety programs that citizens depend on. The escalating cut (1% → 2% → 5%) compounds the impact over time, affecting education, healthcare, environmental protection, and other non-military programs without regard to their public value or necessity.
Named in the bill
Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Senate Committee on Appropriations, House Committee on Appropriations, Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985
Where it stands
- Feb 3, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Feb 3, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Appropriations · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Appropriations”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 3 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $2,516,717 in lobbying spend. A filing names 20 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Marsha Blackburn, the sponsor, reported $133,620 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Real Estate Roundtable — $2,486,717 on 2 filings
- Real Estate Roundtable — $30,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 19, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (3,435 characters) on May 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 19, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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