The White House has moved to cancel $810 million that Congress appropriated for immigration, education, research and minority-business programs, reopening a constitutional dispute over who controls federal spending.
The administration announced the package late Friday through a “pocket rescission.” Under that approach, the president sends Congress a cancellation request close enough to the end of the fiscal year that the money expires before lawmakers complete the statutory review period.
The targeted funds include refugee-assistance programs, grants for minority-owned businesses, international education initiatives, health research and overseas conservation. The administration described the spending as wasteful and harmful. Senator Susan Collins, the Republican chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the move was undertaken without consultation and violated Congress’s power of the purse.
The Constitution assigns appropriations to Congress, while the Impoundment Control Act prescribes how a president may ask lawmakers to rescind enacted spending. Whether a pocket rescission can lawfully achieve the same result without an affirmative congressional vote remains contested.
The Supreme Court declined last year to block a similar withholding of foreign-aid funds while litigation continued. That did not finally resolve the legality of the mechanism. The present package may therefore produce another court test if affected recipients or lawmakers establish standing to sue.
