Lawmakers slam Trump’s ‘unlawful’ move to cut $810 million in federal funds

Key Points:

• The White House announced plans to cut $810 million in congressionally approved funding using pocket rescissions, a rare budget tactic previously employed by the Trump administration, affecting programs for immigrants, minority groups, and health research.
• Lawmakers from both parties criticized the move as unlawful and an overreach of executive power, with Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins calling it a usurpation of Congress’s appropriations powers.
• The administration justified the action by citing the Impoundment Control Act and argued that the timing near the fiscal year-end prevents following the usual protocol for withholding funds, a position challenged in court and by legal experts.
• The rejected funds include support for NGOs serving immigrants and refugees, housing counseling, minority business assistance, and certain Department of Health and Human Services programs, which the White House labeled as wasteful spending.
• This is the second consecutive year the Trump administration has used pocket rescissions to cut billions from federal programs, a tactic criticized as undermining Congress’s “power of the purse” but upheld by the Supreme Court in a related case last year.