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The Trump administration announced Friday that it was canceling $810 million in spending approved by Congress for programs to benefit illegal immigrants, diversity initiatives and other efforts that the administration said did not benefit American citizens.
To recover the funds, President Donald Trump resorted to a “pocket rescission,” a budgetary maneuver that the executive branch says is within its authority, but that Congress and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) say is beyond the president’s authority.
The vast majority of the cuts, some $567 million, were for health and human services programs that funded nongovernmental organizations supporting refugees, asylum seekers and other noncitizens.
The White House is also seeking to cancel $25 million earmarked for educational programs for migrant students, saying they supported things like “an LGBT youth summit” and “therapy workshops for Latinx people.”
FILE – The majority of reductions targeted health and social services programs. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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Programs the administration dubbed “Woke International Education” were also singled out for $70 million in cuts. The White House said the funding supported the arrival of foreign students and faculty in the United States and, in some cases, funded doctoral dissertations on “building queer and trans communities in foreign countries.”
Other programs that received the ax include a Justice Department office focused on reducing racial tensions, a business development initiative for minority entrepreneurs, Department of Housing and Urban Development consulting services, and a series of health and human services grants that the administration has described as “downright harmful and blatantly ideological.”
The White House announcement regarding the cancellations noted that several of these organizations are led by former officials from President Barack Obama’s administration.
Sen. Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, who faces a tough re-election campaign, condemned Trump’s budget cuts and called them “the latest attempt by this Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to undermine Congress’s constitutional power over the purse.”
FILE – Sen. Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, accused the Trump administration of undermining Congress’ constitutional power over the stock market. (CJ Gunther/Getty Images)
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In the latest pocket cancellation, the White House proposed canceling funding near the end of the federal fiscal year on September 30.
Collins argued that this was intentional on the part of the Trump administration, because if the money remains unspent until September 30, it will expire before the 45-day congressional review period can be completed.
Additionally, the House of Representatives will not be in session until the November elections, making it virtually impossible for Congress to respond.
“The independent Government Accountability Office has concluded that pocket reversals are illegal and not authorized by the Impound Control Act,” Collins said in a statement. “I will work with my colleagues to combat these illegal actions.”
FILE – Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought said the Impound Control Act does not prohibit the president from rescinding funds near the end of a fiscal year. (Jason Andrew/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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The OMB under Trump argued that the Impound Control Act does not explicitly prohibit the president from canceling funds near the end of a fiscal year, according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) summary. OMB Director Russ Vought has said the same thing several times.
That same CRS summary says the GAO likened pocket overrides to a line item veto, which would allow a president to strike parts of a law without congressional approval — a power the Supreme Court has ruled unconstitutional.
A year ago, Trump issued the first pocket rescission in nearly 50 years, seeking to cancel $4.9 billion in foreign aid approved by Congress. The Supreme Court refused to block the ruling, citing the president’s foreign affairs authority as allowing the litigation to continue.
The last pocket rollback occurred under former President Jimmy Carter, who proposed it well ahead of the 45-day deadline for congressional consideration.
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