Trump Invokes Rare Authority To Cancel Nearly $1,000,000,000 In Congressionally Approved Spending

President Donald Trump has moved to cancel more than $800 million that Congress approved for refugee aid, migrant education and diversity programs.

The White House announced late Friday it would rescind $810 million in appropriated funds through a rare budgetary tool called a pocket rescission, according to CBS News. The largest cut, $567 million, hit Health and Human Services (HHS) accounts that funded nonprofits serving refugees and asylees, according to the administration.

Officials argued the money is no longer needed because illegal crossings have fallen sharply under Trump’s border policies. They labeled the spending wasteful and harmful to taxpayers.

The reductions also covered $70 million for programs the administration branded “Woke International Education,” $56 million in Housing and Urban Development (HUD) counseling grants and $25 million in migrant student education. The education money once paid for an LGBT youth summit and “Therapy for Latinx” workshops.

Among the groups losing support was Southwest Key Programs, which received $40 million and faced a Justice Department suit alleging its staff sexually harassed and abused unaccompanied minors, according to the White House. Another was Global Refuge, an immigration nonprofit led by a former policy director for Michelle Obama.

The cuts drew a rebuke from Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, according to CBS News. She called the package an effort to “undermine Congress’s Constitutional power of the purse” and said lawmakers received no warning, according to her statement on X.

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…

— Sen. Susan Collins (@SenatorCollins) September 25, 2026

Collins cited the Government Accountability Office, which has found pocket rescissions violate the Impoundment Control Act, according to her statement. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, accused the administration of stealing money owed to communities, according to CBS News.

The White House filed its request days before the fiscal year closes Sept. 30, which lets the funds lapse before Congress can vote, CBS News reported. The House will remain out of session through the November election, leaving lawmakers little room to respond, according to Fox News.

Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought has maintained that the Impoundment Control Act does not bar a president from canceling funds late in the fiscal year, Fox News reported.

Trump deployed the same maneuver in 2025 to withhold $4.9 billion in foreign aid, the first pocket rescission in nearly five decades, according to CBS News. The Supreme Court let that cancellation stand while declining to rule on its legality, ABC News reported.

AUTHOR

Mark Tanos

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