On Friday, September 25, the White House announced that President Trump is cancelling nearly $1 billion that Congress approved. His budget office said the cuts target "the most harmful government spending."
Here's what's on the list, according to the Associated Press:
- Health and Human Services programs that serve refugees and unaccompanied children. That's most of the money.
- A Department of Education program for migrant students.
- A Justice Department office that works to reduce racial tensions in communities.
- A business development program for minority entrepreneurs.
- Housing counseling services at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
- A set of HHS grants the administration called "outright harmful and blatantly ideological."
The White House's press release even pointed out that some of the groups getting cut are run by people who worked for President Obama.
Why the timing matters
Under federal law, when a president wants to cancel money Congress approved, Congress gets 45 days to review the request. It can vote to approve the cuts or let them die.
Trump announced these cuts with five days left in the federal budget year, which, the Associated Press reported, made that review all but impossible. This trick is called a "pocket rescission." The Government Accountability Office, Congress's own nonpartisan watchdog, says it's illegal.
It gets worse. The House isn't even in town. House Republican leaders sent members home until after the November election, so the House can't act even if it wanted to. Even Ashley Hinson, the Iowa Republican running for Senate, said at a press conference that recessing was a "mistake".
Even the top Republican appropriator objects
Sen. Susan Collins, the Maine Republican who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the delay itself was an impoundment that "was not reported to Congress" and "a usurpation of Congress's appropriations powers." "OMB is an agency of the executive branch," she said. "It does not get to decide which programs are worth funding." She said the White House gave no warning and that she'd work with colleagues to address "these illegal actions."
A year ago, Trump used the same trick for the first time in nearly 50 years, blocking $4.9 billion in foreign aid. The Supreme Court declined to block it.
Republicans in Congress helped build this
This didn't come out of nowhere. In 2025, House Republicans voted at Trump's request to cancel $9.4 billion Congress had already approved, including Ohio's Troy Balderson, who had told business leaders months earlier that "Congress decides". And in Georgia, Andrew Clyde sponsored a bill to repeal the law that stops a president from simply refusing to spend money Congress approved, the same law this maneuver gets around.
The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse. Congress votes on the money; the president signs it and spends it. When a president can quietly cancel what Congress passed, in the last week of the year, while Congress is away, Congress loses that power.
What we know
On September 25, with five days left in the fiscal year and the House out until after the election, Trump announced he's cancelling nearly $1 billion Congress approved. Most of it paid for services for refugees and unaccompanied children, plus programs for migrant students, minority businesses and housing counseling. The GAO says this "pocket rescission" is illegal. Susan Collins, the Senate's top Republican appropriator, called it a "usurpation" of Congress's power. The Supreme Court declined to block last year's $4.9 billion version.
Source
Trump administration uses rare authority to claw back nearly $1B in spending approved by Congress — Associated Press, via STAT. Photo: Mariam Zuhaib/AP.
