Trump withholds nearly $1 billion Congress appropriated, using a pocket rescission
The White House announced on the evening of Friday, September 25, 2026 that Trump is blocking nearly $1 billion appropriated for refugee services, migrant-student education, housing counseling, minority business development and a Justice Department office that works on racial tensions.
What happened
- A pocket rescission is a request to Congress to block funding sent so close to the end of the fiscal year that the money can expire before Congress gets its full 45-day review, CNBC reported.
- The cuts include $567 million appropriated for Health and Human Services programs serving refugees, asylees and other non-citizens, and $28 million for department research, CNBC reported.
- Trump sent the request with five days left in the federal fiscal year and the House out of session through the November election, the Associated Press reported.
Pushback
- The Government Accountability Office, an arm of Congress, says the pocket rescission maneuver is illegal, the Associated Press reported.
- Senator Susan Collins of Maine, the Senate's top Republican appropriator, said on Friday night that "any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law."
Why it matters
Timing the request to the last days of the fiscal year lets the president cancel spending Congress voted into law without Congress ever voting on it. Money for refugee and unaccompanied-minor services, migrant students and housing counseling runs out five days after the announcement, whether lawmakers agree or not. Congress holds the purse; that is the check being removed.