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President Trump moved to cancel almost $1 billion in spending that was approved by Congress, the White House said late Friday, marking the second time the administration has employed a rarely used tactic that some lawmakers in both parties have called illegal.
The administration said it was calling off $567 million in spending on services for refugees, asylees and other migrants through the Department of Health and Human Services. The White House is also rescinding $50 million for several other programs that aid immigrants and noncitizens, $70 million in “Woke International Education” grants and fellowships and $56 million in Housing and Urban Development programs.
“President Trump is committed to utilizing all possible tools to cut wasteful and harmful government spending that does not benefit American citizens,” the White House said.
The White House said it would claw back the spending through a controversial maneuver called a “pocket rescission,” in which the president notifies Congress shortly before the end of the fiscal year that it doesn’t wish to spend funds that lawmakers appropriated.
Under the Impoundment Control Act, the president can propose rescissions of budget authority, which Congress has 45 legislative days to approve. But if proposals are made late in the fiscal year, the funds can effectively be withheld until they expire. The fiscal year ends on Wednesday.
The Trump administration used the same tactic last year to cancel $4.9 billion in foreign aid funds approved by Congress. That marked the first pocket rescission since 1977, during the Carter administration.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who chairs the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, strongly criticized the latest pocket rescission.
In a statement Friday, she said lawmakers were informed of $810 million in pocket rescissions “without warning or consultation.” She said it appears that the White House’s Office of Management and Budget “intentionally withheld these funds for months to execute this unlawful cancellation of appropriations that were approved on a bipartisan basis and signed into law.”
Collins noted that the Government Accountability Office has called pocket rescissions illegal.
“Any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law,” said Collins, a frequent critic of pocket rescissions who is running for reelection this year. “I will work with my colleagues to address these illegal actions.”
Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said the Trump administration is “once again trying to steal more money promised to communities across the country.”
Since returning to office last year, Mr. Trump has sought to call off spending on programs that do not align with his policy priorities, drawing lawsuits.
Last year’s pocket rescissions drew a legal challenge from organizations and businesses that receive funding for foreign aid projects. The Supreme Court ultimately allowed the Trump administration to cancel billions in foreign aid funds, pointing to the president’s power to oversee foreign relations, but did not reach a final decision on the merits.
