President Donald Trump's administration announced Friday that he utilized a "pocket rescission" to cut nearly $1 billion in what he calls "the most harmful government spending." In the announcement, the administration said $567 million was being cut from taxpayer-funded Health and Human Services funds for non-citizens, $15 million from former President Joe Biden-era Department of Homeland Security programs to provide welfare to "illegal aliens," $25 million in educational programs for non-citizens, along with other rescissions to numerous other programs and agencies. Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine reacted to the announcement and ripped into the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), saying, "Without warning or consultation, Congress just received an $810 million package of pocket rescissions from the Administration. This is the most recent attempt by this Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to undermine Congress’s Constitutional power of the purse.
This move shows that OMB intentionally withheld these funds for months to execute this unlawful cancellation of appropriations that were approved on a bipartisan basis and signed into law." Collins added that the OMB does not get to decide what programs are worth funding and said the actions were "illegal." "The independent Government Accountability Office has concluded that pocket rescissions are unlawful and not permitted by the Impoundment Control Act. Any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law. I will work with my colleagues to address these illegal actions," Collins later concluded.
Newsweek reached out to the White House via email on Friday night for comment. Government Accountability Office (GAO), a pocket rescission is when a president asks Congress to cancel funding close to the end of the fiscal year before they can potentially be used for any new obligations. The fiscal year ends in five days, on September 30.
The move seemingly thwarts Congress' power by not allowing the 45 allotted days to respond, the GAO highlights. The office says pocket rescissions are not legal, adding that "Congress holds the power of the purse—approving a budget and appropriating funds. Presidents and executive branch agencies are responsible for administering those funds." In the Friday night announcement, the administration touted Trump's use of the rescission, highlighting the "long-neglected Presidential authorities provided to him under the Impoundment Control Act" and noted a similar move last year.
That marked the first time in nearly 50 years that a president used a pocket rescission. Senator Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, said the move was a "theft from the American people, plain and simple." "These are funds Congress has delivered on a bipartisan basis and should be helping people—not cut off by a president more focused on building a ballroom than investing in families. Every Republican who voted for these bills should be furious, because [OMB Director Russell] Vought is saying their votes don’t count," Murray added in part.
Senator Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, also said the rescission is illegal. "This violates the core separation of powers embedded in our constitution in which it is the Congress, not the president, who decides what programs are designed and at what level they are funded," he said in part. Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said on X, "Senate Republicans had chance after chance to stop Trump’s illegal seizure of taxpayer money.
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