President Trump has canceled $810 million in unspent federal funding through a rare “pocket rescission” — a maneuver that kills congressionally approved money by running out the clock on the fiscal year before lawmakers get a real chance to object.
Why it matters: It’s only the second pocket rescission in 50 years — both issued by Trump — and the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office has already concluded the tactic is unlawful. Now a sitting Republican senator is accusing the White House of using it to bypass Congress’s constitutional power over federal spending.
Driving the news:
The Office of Management and Budget confirmed Friday, Sept. 25 that it would cancel $810 million in previously appropriated funds just before the fiscal year ends Sept. 30 — timing that leaves Congress no real window to respond, since the House is out of session through the November elections. The Daily Caller reports.
OMB Director Russ Vought is defending the move by arguing the Impoundment Control Act “does not explicitly forbid” a president from rescinding funds near the end of the fiscal year — the same legal theory the administration used for a $4.9 billion foreign-aid rescission in 2025. per Fox News.
The White House singled out programs it described as funding an “LGBT youth summit,” “Therapy for Latinx workshops,” and “queer and trans community building” overseas as among those cut. Fox News notes.
By the numbers:
$810 million — total funding rescinded.
$567 million — from Health and Human Services, mostly refugee and asylee support programs.
$70 million — international education exchange programs the White House labeled “woke.”
$56 million — HUD housing-counseling grants.
$40 million — from Southwest Key Programs, an immigrant-shelter nonprofit.
$25 million — migrant student education programs.
What they’re saying: “This is the most recent attempt by this Office of Management and Budget to undermine Congress’s Constitutional power of the purse,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee. Collins added that “the independent Government Accountability Office has concluded that pocket rescissions are unlawful.” Fox News reports.
The other side: The White House and Vought maintain the move is legal, and point to the Supreme Court’s decision to let a similar $4.9 billion rescission stand in 2025 — without ruling on its legality — as validation for using the tactic again. Daily Caller notes.
The bottom line: Trump has now used the once-rare pocket rescission twice in a single term, and even a Republican senator says this one is unlawful — a precedent fight over how much control future presidents, of either party, have to unilaterally kill spending Congress already approved.
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