Lawmakers blasted a plan by President Donald Trump to claw back more than $800 million in congressionally approved spending across the government, saying the president had no right to defy Congress in how he directs federal funding.
The White House late Friday said it was taking a legally contested move to cut funding at federal agencies for a range of programs that direct government services toward immigrants, minority groups, climate change programs and other issues. It was the latest bid by the Trump administration to assert sweeping control over the government and to trim congressional powers.
Trump is using his authority under the Impoundment Control Act to do a “pocket rescission” of the funds, the White House said in a statement, a move it also used last year to cut nearly $5 billion in funding for foreign aid, the first time the maneuver had been used in nearly 50 years.
The Supreme Court allowed the 2025 effort to proceed, though it did so by issuing a stay of a lower court’s ruling that the move was illegal and rested part of its justification on the president’s wide-ranging authority to act on foreign affairs. It held back from declaring that Trump was on solid legal ground. This year’s action is mostly focused on domestic spending.
The largest slice of funding, $567 million, was clawed back from the Department of Health and Human Services, the White House said, saying that it was cutting money for programs that directed services toward refugees and asylum seekers that it said encouraged a flow of migrants to the United States.
“These funds previously went to pro-illegal immigration programs and Non-Governmental Organizations that provided services to refugees, asylees, and other non-citizens and put unaccompanied children in harm’s way,” the White House said in its statement.
Other cuts included an Education Department program for migrant students, a Justice Department program intended to reduce racial tensions in policing, and a Department of Housing and Urban Development program that funded housing counseling for minorities and immigrants.
Congress typically needs to approve White House rescissions. The White House argues that submitting a rescission request near the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year allows it to withhold the money until it expires, bypassing Congress.
The House is out of session until November, while the Senate plans to adjourn in early October to allow lawmakers to campaign for the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and top Democratic appropriators have argued that the pocket rescission strategy is illegal. Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, has pointed to a Government Accountability Office letter from the 1970s to argue that the strategy has precedent.
Lawmakers of both parties condemned the move.
“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,” Collins said in a statement.
Collins is running a tight race for reelection in November for one of the seats that will help determine which party controls the Senate.
“The independent Government Accountability Office has concluded that pocket rescissions are unlawful and not permitted by the Impoundment Control Act,” she said. “I will work with my colleagues to address these illegal actions.”
Collins’s Democratic counterpart also blasted the spending decision.
“This is theft from the American people, plain and simple,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington), the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said in a statement. “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.”
Democratic appropriators unsuccessfully fought to bar the Trump administration from using pocket rescissions in their latest funding extension, Murray said. “Republicans refused to take common-sense action and prevent this from happening,” she said.
Riley Beggin and Theodoric Meyer contributed to this report.
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