What you need to know about President Trump’s $810 million in spending cuts: NPR

Democrats blame Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought for the cancellation of the funds, accusing him of violating the separation of powers and undermining the authority of Congress.

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Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images North America

Each year, Congress passes laws that allocate money to various programs and agencies of the federal government. Trump, for the second year in a row, refuses to send some of that money where Congress says it should gosparking a new battle with lawmakers over who controls federal spending.

Of the $810 million withheld, $567 million came from programs that “provided services to refugees, asylum seekers, and other noncitizens,” according to a White House memo.

The move, called pocket cancellation, is illegal, according to the Government Accountability Officean independent, nonpartisan oversight agency responsible for providing federal agencies with factual information.

Article 1 of the Constitution gives to Congress tit has the power to levy taxes and decide how federal funds are spent – known as the power of the purse. If the president doesn’t agree, he can send a request to Congress to cancel the fund, but that’s supposed to happen with 45 days’ notice to let Congress agree or disagree.

A pocket rescission occurs when the president decides to cancel funds without allowing Congress enough time to intervene or reallocate the money. With less than a week until the end of the fiscal year, this announcement means funds will not be spent and Congress will not be able to respond.

“This is the latest attempt by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to undermine Congress’s constitutional power over the purse,” wrote Sen. Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, in a statement published on X. “OMB is an executive branch agency. It does not decide which programs are worth funding.”

The canceled funds fuel anger among Democrats who say OMB Director Russell Vought is violating the separation of powers and undermining the authority of Congress.

“This is a theft from the American people, plain and simple,” wrote Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee on X. “Every Republican who voted for these bills should be furious, because Vought says their votes don’t count.”