Trump Declares $1b Canceled In ‘pocket Rescission’ Affront To Congress’ Funding Power

President Donald Trump informed congressional leaders Friday that he has unilaterally canceled almost $1 billion in federal funding without Congress’ consent — employing a budget maneuver many lawmakers consider illegal.

In a move that will almost certainly set up an ugly government funding battle after the midterms, Trump has again claimed the power to execute a so-called “pocket rescission” to nix money Congress has already enacted. The funding the president declared canceled is for immigration services, support to foreign countries, education programs, health research efforts and assistance for businesses owned by minorities.

By law, the president is allowed to send Congress a request to rescind federal funding, then withhold that money for 45 days while lawmakers consider whether to approve, reject or ignore it. Trump administration officials also argue they have the power to cancel funding without any congressional action by sending Congress a rescission request with less than 45 days left in the fiscal year. The argument is that the money is automatically canceled on Sept. 30, because it is withheld until funding lapses at the end of the fiscal year.

Last year Trump used the maneuver to cancel $4.9 billion in foreign aid.

The Senate’s top Republican appropriator, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, immediately blasted the move as illegal, saying in a statement Friday night that “any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law."

“This move shows that OMB 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 added, pledging to work with other lawmakers “to address these illegal actions."

Collins and other appropriators have already been on high alert in recent days, pressing multiple agencies about funding officials have yet to spend ahead of the expiration date.

Top Republicans have rejected Democratic demands to undo Trump’s cancellation last summer of billions of dollars in foreign aid by pushing off the expiration date for that cash. They have also rebuffed the idea of preventing Trump from executing another pocket rescission this year by barring the president from sending a clawbacks request in the last quarter of the fiscal year.

The House’s top Democratic appropriator, Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, called Friday for Republicans to join Democrats in “rejecting this attempt to circumvent Congress” and said the Trump administration has “clearly been unlawfully impounding funds all year just to get to this point.”

Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the Senate's top Democratic appropriator, said White House budget director Russ Vought is sending a message to Congress that "your votes don’t count, and your laws are optional."

"It is now time for my Republican colleagues who said they would never let this happen to stand up and join us to stop this," Murray said in a statement, "and remind this administration this is not how this works.”

While the Supreme Court has yet to rule on whether Trump has illegally impounded funding during his second term, the high court gave the go-ahead last year for the president to withhold the majority of the foreign aid he canceled through his first pocket rescission.