President Trump has announced plans to withhold $810 million in spending previously approved by Congress, reigniting a conflict over fiscal authority that critics from both parties are calling unlawful. This marks the second consecutive year the administration has refused to disburse funds to programs directed by legislative mandate.
According to a White House memo, $567 million of the canceled funds was allocated to programs providing services to refugees, asylees, and other non-citizens. The administration also withheld $15 million from a Justice Department initiative focused on resolving racial and ethnic tensions, $70 million from grants supporting foreign students and faculty, and tens of millions more from research and nonprofit grants targeting climate change and diversity initiatives.
The mechanism employed, known as a pocket rescission, involves the president canceling funds without providing the statutory 45-day notice required for Congress to review or reallocate the money. Because the fiscal year concludes in less than a week, the announcement ensures the funds will remain unspent without opportunity for legislative response.
The Government Accountability Office, the non-partisan congressional watchdog, has stated that pocket rescissions are illegal. Under Article I of the Constitution, Congress holds the exclusive “power of the purse,” including the authority to levy taxes and determine federal spending. While a president may request the cancellation of specific funds, the process requires adequate time for congressional deliberation.
The move has drawn sharp rebuke from Senate Appropriations Committee members. Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, described the action as an attempt by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to undermine constitutional authority. “OMB is an agency of the executive branch. It does not get to decide which programs are worth funding,” Collins said in a statement posted to X.
Democratic leaders expressed equally fierce opposition. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington called the move “theft from the American people” and argued that it invalidated the votes of Republicans who supported the original funding bills. Rep. Brendan Boyle, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, labeled the actions a “blatant attack on Congress’s constitutional power of the purse,” asserting that the administration is bypassing legislative scrutiny to achieve cuts it cannot secure through proper channels.
A request for comment from the White House regarding the cancellation was not returned.
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