President Donald Trump’s administration moved on Friday, September 26, 2026, to cancel over $800 million in congressionally approved funding across multiple federal agencies. Lawmakers from both parties, including Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, slammed the maneuver as an unlawful bypassing of Congress’s constitutional power of the purse.
The package of proposed cuts targets domestic and international programs, with a heavy emphasis on refugee services, immigrant support, and minority business initiatives. Submitted to House Speaker Mike Johnson by Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, the mechanism relies on a maneuver known as a pocket rescission
under the 1974 Impoundment Control Act.
Refugee Assistance, Immigration Programs, and Agency Cuts Under the Proposal
Over half of the proposed clawbacks hit the Health and Human Services Department’s Office of Refugee Resettlement. Specifically, the administration targeted $567 million earmarked for the Refugee and Entrant Assistance account. The White House defended the reduction by arguing the office is overfunded because tighter border policies have driven down border crossings.
Additional cuts reach into the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Commerce. The plan cancels $15 million designated for an Alternatives to Detention case management pilot program and $10 million from a citizenship and integration grant program intended to help lawful permanent residents study English and American history. Another $10 million comes out of a $50 million allocation for the Minority Business Development Agency. The administration asserted that MBDA grant programs allocate money based on race for unconstitutional race-based purposes
.
Bipartisan Backlash and Constitutional Clash Over the Impoundment Control Act
The announcement triggered swift and sharp condemnation from lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who leads the Senate Appropriations Committee, argued that the executive branch intentionally delayed releasing the money to run out the clock before the fiscal year ends on September 30.
Any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Senate Appropriations Committee Chair
Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley similarly condemned the package, labeling it an illegal line item veto
that fundamentally dismantles the separation of powers enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office has maintained that using pocket rescissions at the end of a fiscal year allows the executive branch to unilaterally shorten the availability of fixed-period funds, effectively rewriting legislation passed by lawmakers.
Precedent From 2025 and the Mechanics of a Pocket Rescission
This is not the first time the Trump administration has deployed this strategy. Last year, the White House used the Impoundment Control Act to target $4.9 billion in foreign aid, including $3.2 billion originally allocated to USAID. Although lower courts challenged that 2025 maneuver, the Supreme Court eventually stayed an injunction requiring those billions to be obligated, though the justices clarified their action was not a final ruling on the merits.
Under the rules governing the Impoundment Control Act, Congress is nominally allotted 45 days of continuous session to review a president’s rescission requests. However, submitting the paperwork mere days before the September 30 fiscal deadline leaves virtually zero operational window for lawmakers to vote or block the funds from expiring.
Budget experts outside government point out that the strategy exploits timing loopholes. Zachary Price, a law professor at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, said that interpreting the statute to allow unilateral cancellations is an abuse of the law and lacks support in historical practice. With the funding paused and the fiscal calendar nearly expired, congressional leaders face an uphill battle to reverse the cuts before the money vanishes.
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