Democrats and Republicans alike are pushing back after President Trump withheld $810 million in congressionally approved funding, reigniting a fierce dispute over federal spending powers.
Of the total funds withheld, $567 million comes from programs that “provided services to refugees, asylees, and other non-citizens,” according to a memo from the White House.
The move, known as a pocket rescission, has been declared illegal by the Government Accountability Office, an independent, non-partisan watchdog agency.
Article 1 of the Constitution grants Congress the power to levy taxes and determine how federal funds are spent, a foundational authority commonly referred to as the power of the purse.
Under established law, a president who wishes to cancel congressionally approved funds must send a formal request to Congress with at least 45 days notice, allowing lawmakers to agree or reallocate the money.
A pocket rescission bypasses that process entirely, and with the end of the fiscal year less than a week away, the canceled funds will go unspent before Congress has any opportunity to respond.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, condemned the move in a statement posted to X, writing: “This is the most recent attempt by this Office of Management and Budget to undermine Congress’s Constitutional power of the purse.”
Collins added pointedly that “OMB is an agency of the executive branch” and that “it does not get to decide which programs are worth funding.”
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, called the action “theft from the American people, plain and simple,” warning that “Vought is saying their votes don’t count.”
Rep. Brendan Boyle, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, went further, stating that “Donald Trump knows he can’t get these cuts through Congress, so he is illegally making them through the back door.”
Boyle described Trump’s actions as “a blatant attack on Congress’s constitutional power of the purse,” reflecting the intensity of Democratic opposition to the move.
The withheld funds also include $15 million directed toward a Justice Department team tasked with preventing and resolving racial and ethnic tensions, as well as civil disorders.
An additional $70 million was withheld from programs that “provide grants and fellowships to support institutions bringing foreign students and faculty to the United States to study or teach language.”
Tens of millions more were pulled from research and non-profit grant programs focused on climate change and work supporting racial and gender minority communities.
This marks the second consecutive year that Trump has refused to direct congressionally allocated funds to their designated recipients, escalating what has become a recurring constitutional confrontation between the executive and legislative branches.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the decision or the legal challenges it has prompted from both sides of the aisle.
