Trump Cancels $810 Million in Approved Spending With Rare Pocket Rescission, Setting Up Clash Over Congress's Power of the Purse

What happened

President Donald Trump on Friday, September 25, 2026, ordered the cancellation of $810 million in congressionally appropriated funding, using a rarely invoked budget mechanism known as a pocket rescission and acting with just five days left in the federal fiscal year, which ends September 30, according to the New York Post. In a notice to House Speaker Mike Johnson, Trump wrote: "In accordance with… the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, I herewith report 11 rescissions of budget authority, totaling $810 million." The action eliminates 11 pools of unspent money across seven federal departments and agencies: Commerce, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, and International Assistance Programs. It is only the second pocket rescission in 49 years, following Trump's cancellation of $4.9 billion in foreign aid through the same mechanism last year, and it is expected to draw legal challenges, as wire reporting collected by the Associated Press has also tracked.

The largest single cut, $567 million, comes from HHS social services for immigrants in the country illegally, including grants to non-governmental organizations, which the White House said is no longer necessary given what it described as the near-elimination of illegal border crossings over the past year. Other cuts detailed by the Post's Steven Nelson include $70 million in fellowships and grants for foreign academics and students, part of which the administration tied to transgender-focused projects; $56 million from a HUD housing-counseling program that the White House said was fueling "DEI-centric" agendas at UnidosUS and the National Urban League; $28 million in HHS grants it called "wasteful, duplicative, and sometimes outright harmful and blatantly ideological"; $25 million from a Department of Education initiative for migrant students; $15 million each from the Justice Department's Community Relations Service and a Homeland Security cultural and legal-aid program; $10 million each from the Minority Business Development Agency and a second DHS legal-services program; $5 million from the HHS Office of Minority Health; and $9 million from the Treasury's Tropical Forest and Coral Reef Conservation Act Program.

Why it matters

The move escalates a constitutional standoff between the executive branch and Congress over the power of the purse. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, denounced the action as a "clear violation of the law" and pledged to work with colleagues to address it. The Government Accountability Office has labeled pocket rescissions illegal, arguing that announcing a rescission five days before the fiscal year ends bypasses Congress's normal 45-day review window, since the money expires before lawmakers can vote. The White House defended the cuts as targeting "the most harmful government spending," and the action was driven by the office of OMB general counsel Mark Paoletta, per the Post. Because the affected funds were already appropriated by law, the dispute is likely to be resolved in court, and the outcome could shape how much unilateral authority any president has to decline spending that Congress has approved. The timing also matters practically: with the fiscal year closing on September 30, any unspent balances in the 11 pools would otherwise have lapsed or carried forward under normal appropriation rules, and the rescission converts that routine calendar into a vehicle for permanent cancellation without a recorded vote in either chamber.

How it is being covered

According to ground.news, 30 outlets are carrying the story, with a left/centre/right split of 52/41/7 percent, and 26 of 29 rated sources fall into the high or very high factuality bands, including both the New York Post and the Associated Press. The outlet notes a blindspot on the right: only 7 percent of sources covering the story are right-leaning, meaning conservative readers may see less of this coverage than the story's subject matter would suggest.

What to watch

Watch for three developments. First, whether Collins and other appropriators move legislation or use the appropriations process to block the rescission, and whether Senate Republicans split from the White House as they did in last year's foreign-aid rescission fight. Second, whether the Government Accountability Office issues a formal legal opinion and whether outside groups or affected grantees file suit challenging the timing argument, a path that legal observers on both sides of the debate have flagged since last year's $4.9 billion action. Third, whether the administration follows through on further rescissions, given that this is the second use of the mechanism in two years and that OMB's legal office has embraced it as a tool for canceling spending without a congressional vote. Lawmakers returning to Washington with the new fiscal year underway will also face immediate decisions about whether to codify protections for the canceled accounts or accept the White House's position.

By the numbers

Source snapshot