BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Trump administration is moving to cancel $810 million in federal funding already approved by Congress, setting up a new fight over presidential spending authority and raising questions about the impact on refugee services in New York.
More than $567 million of the proposed cuts are tied to refugee and entrant assistance programs.
The administration sent Congress the rescission request Friday, targeting funding across 11 federal accounts. The White House says its immigration and refugee policies have dramatically reduced the number of people entering the United States and argues the remaining money is excess funding that is no longer needed.
The administration is attempting to cancel the funding through what is known as a “pocket rescission,” in which a president submits a rescission request close enough to the end of the fiscal year that the money could expire before Congress completes its review.
But the Government Accountability Office, Congress’s nonpartisan watchdog, says the administration cannot use the process to force congressionally approved funding to expire.
In a five-page letter sent to congressional leaders, GAO pointed to the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which governs how a president can seek to withhold or cancel money appropriated by Congress.
GAO said the president may ask Congress to rescind funding but cannot withhold the money through its expiration if Congress has not approved the request.
The White House disputes that interpretation.
Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought criticized GAO’s finding in a post on X, accusing the agency of being partisan. The administration has argued that the Impoundment Control Act does not expressly prohibit pocket rescissions.
The dispute comes as the federal fiscal year ends Tuesday.
Potential impact in New York
New York state data shows 10,654 refugees received services in the state during federal fiscal year 2024. About 97% were served in upstate New York, with Erie County among the five counties serving the largest number of refugees.
Assemblymember Jon Rivera, a Buffalo Democrat, said refugee resettlement has played a role in filling workforce gaps and revitalizing neighborhoods in Western New York.
“A hit to this would kind of devastate certain sectors of the economy,” Rivera said.
Rivera said New York continued supporting refugee resettlement agencies during President Donald Trump’s first term, even as some agencies elsewhere closed amid declines in refugee admissions.
“Places like Buffalo, because New York state had continued to fund their refugee resettlement agencies, they were able to receive more people,” Rivera said.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand also criticized the latest rescission request.
“The Trump administration rescinding this congressionally approved funding is completely illegal and wrong,” Gillibrand said in a statement to Spectrum News 1.
Gillibrand said repeated attempts to cancel federal funding are creating uncertainty for service providers in New York.
What happens next
The dispute is part of a larger disagreement between the Trump administration and Congress over presidential authority to withhold money lawmakers have already appropriated.
The administration used a similar maneuver involving billions of dollars in foreign aid last year. That dispute reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which allowed the funding to remain withheld in an emergency order but did not make a final determination on the broader legality of pocket rescissions.
GAO is not a court, meaning its latest finding does not by itself compel the administration to release the funding.
With the fiscal year ending, the immediate question is whether the administration makes the money available, allows it to expire or faces another legal challenge over its attempt to cancel the funds.