Trump Administration Revokes $810M Approved by Congress for Refugee Aid and More

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has, once again, infuriated lawmakers from both political parties by using a controversial maneuver to cancel funding previously approved by Congress.

The $810 million in the “pocket rescission” would have gone to refugee assistance programs at the Department of Health and Human Services, a Treasury Department program that provided “debt forgiveness to foreign countries that make climate change-related investments for coral reefs and tropical forests” and a grant program at the Minority Business Development Agency, among several others.

The decision by the White House budget office to cancel the funding could make it much more difficult for negotiators to reach agreement on the dozen full-year government funding bills later this year.

Those bills cannot become law without bipartisan support, a requirement that’s unlikely to happen if Democrats believe the administration will simply cancel funding they don’t wish to spend.

Collins issues criticism

Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, wrote in a statement released Friday evening, shortly after the White House’s Office of Management and Budget announced the latest pocket rescission, that she sharply disagreed with its tactics.

“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 wrote. “Not only is the delay itself an impoundment that was not reported to Congress, but also it is a usurpation of Congress’s appropriations powers. OMB is an agency of the executive branch. It does not get to decide which programs are worth funding.”

Collins, who is up for reelection in an increasingly close race, added that she planned to work with other lawmakers “to address these illegal actions.”

Washington state Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, ranking member on the Appropriations Committee, wrote in a statement that the pocket rescission represented “theft from the American people, plain and simple.”

“These are funds Congress has delivered on a bipartisan basis and should be helping people—not cut off by a president more focused on building a ballroom than investing in families,” Murray wrote. “Every Republican who voted for these bills should be furious because Vought is saying their votes don’t count.”

Russ Vought runs the Office of Management and Budget, which is supposed to oversee the distribution of federal funding after Congress approves a spending bill.

Government Accountability Office spokesperson Sarah Kaczmarek wrote in a statement shared with States Newsroom that the agency “stands behind its legal position that pocket rescissions are illegal and not authorized by the Impoundment Control Act.” The GAO is a nonpartisan congressional watchdog agency.

The 1974 Impoundment Control Act established the rescissions request process, which allows the administration to legally freeze the funding for 45 days while lawmakers decide whether to approve the request in full or in part.

If Congress doesn’t take any action during that time, then the administration is supposed to spend the money.

The Trump administration believes that sending the request to lawmakers within the 45 days that precede the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30 allows the administration to revoke the funding, even if Congress doesn’t vote to approve.

Other funding canceled

The Trump administration sent Congress its first pocket rescission in August 2025 when it clawed back $4.9 billion in funding.

That money was intended for several programs, including international peacekeeping and democracy programs as well as development assistance to other countries.

The Trump administration sent lawmakers a regular rescissions request in June 2025 that called on lawmakers to revoke $9.4 billion in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and foreign aid programs.

Both chambers signed off on canceling $9 billion after the Senate voted to preserve hundreds of millions of dollars for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR.

by Jennifer Shutt, Virginia Mercury

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