diff --git a/britney2/excusefinder.py b/britney2/excusefinder.py
index 00055c5..7791843 100644
--- a/britney2/excusefinder.py
+++ b/britney2/excusefinder.py
@@ -651,8 +651,16 @@ class ExcuseFinder(object):
 
         # extract the not considered packages, which are in the excuses but not in upgrade_me
         unconsidered = {ename for ename in excuses if ename not in actionable_items}
+        invalidated = set()
 
-        invalidate_excuses(excuses, actionable_items, unconsidered)
+        invalidate_excuses(excuses, actionable_items, unconsidered, invalidated)
+
+        # check that the list of actionable items matches the list of valid
+        # excuses
+        assert actionable_items == {x for x in excuses if excuses[x].is_valid}
+
+        # check that the rdeps for all invalid excuses were invalidated
+        assert invalidated == {x for x in excuses if not excuses[x].is_valid}
 
         mi_factory = self._migration_item_factory
         actionable_items = {mi_factory.parse_item(x, versioned=False, auto_correct=False) for x in actionable_items}
diff --git a/britney2/utils.py b/britney2/utils.py
index ead608a..4016d24 100644
--- a/britney2/utils.py
+++ b/britney2/utils.py
@@ -651,7 +651,7 @@ def get_dependency_solvers(block, binaries_s_a, provides_s_a, *, build_depends=F
     return packages
 
 
-def invalidate_excuses(excuses, valid, invalid):
+def invalidate_excuses(excuses, valid, invalid, invalidated):
     """Invalidate impossible excuses
 
     This method invalidates the impossible excuses, which depend
@@ -701,6 +701,7 @@ def invalidate_excuses(excuses, valid, invalid):
 
     # loop on the invalid excuses
     for ename in iter_except(invalid.pop, KeyError):
+        invalidated.add(ename)
         # if there is no reverse dependency, skip the item
         if ename not in excuses_rdeps:
             continue