The White House said Friday that it planned to cut $810 million in bipartisan, congressionally approved funding, spurring criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. <\/p>\n
The executive branch would effectively send the funds back to Congress using so-called pocket rescissions, a rare budgetary tactic that the Trump administration has used before<\/a> to negate congressionally allocated spending. The rejected funding affects several programs and agencies serving immigrants, minority groups and Department of Health and Human Services research programs. <\/p>\n The administration has argued that while the law gives Congress a 45-day period to accept or reject a White House decision to withhold funds, there is no way to follow that protocol if the action occurs less than 45 days before the end of the fiscal year. That argument has been challenged in court and criticized by lawyers and both Republican and Democratic lawmakers. <\/p>\n The fiscal year ends Sept. 30, only a few days away, and the House is not scheduled to return until after the midterm elections in November.<\/p>\n The White House announced the move in a statement <\/a>Friday, describing the rejected funding as \u201cthe most harmful government spending.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cPresident Trump is committed to utilizing all possible tools to cut wasteful and harmful government spending that does not benefit American citizens,\u201d the statement said. <\/p>\n Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, called the administration\u2019s move \u201cunlawful\u201d Friday and said, \u201cI will work with my colleagues to address these illegal actions.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis move shows that [the Office of Management and Budget] intentionally withheld these funds for months to execute this unlawful cancellation of appropriations that were approved on a bipartisan basis and signed into law,\u201d Collins wrote in a statement. \u201cNot only is the delay itself an impoundment that was not reported to Congress, but also it is a usurpation of Congress\u2019s appropriations powers.\u201d <\/p>\n She wrote that as OMB is part of the executive branch, \u201cIt does not get to decide which programs are worth funding.\u201d<\/p>\n Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who serves as vice chair of the Appropriations Committee, called the move a \u201ctheft from the American people\u201d and took aim at OMB Director Russ Vought. <\/p>\n \u201cRuss Vought\u2019s message to Congress is that your votes don\u2019t count, and your laws are optional,\u201d Murray said in a statement. \u201cIt is now time for my Republican colleagues who said they would never let this happen to stand up and join us to stop this, and remind this administration this is not how this works.\u201d<\/p>\n Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., also disparaged the tactic, writing in a statement that \u201cWith this rescissions package, the Trump administration is illegally stripping nearly $1 billion in critical funding that supports kids, K-12 students, small businesses, and health and clean air research.\u201d <\/p>\n Schumer added that Senate Democrats will \u201cchallenge Trump\u2019s illegal cuts.\u201d <\/p>\n The White House listed the programs that it rejected funding for, writing that tax dollars were being \u201cwasted.\u201d The programs included funding for several nongovernmental organizations that serve immigrants and refugees, NGOs that provide housing counseling, and funding that supports bringing foreign students and faculty to U.S. academic institutions. <\/p>\n The administration also said it rejected funding for the Community Relations Services, a subagency of the Justice Department that was established as part of the Civil Rights Act and nicknamed \u201cAmerica\u2019s Peacemaker.\u201d The White House also listed denying funds for a program that grants debt relief to countries that implement climate change policies and a program that assists minority business owners. <\/p>\n There were also funds rejected for what the White House deemed \u201coverfunded and unaligned\u201d HHS research programs. It also returned funds for the department\u2019s Office of Minority Health. <\/p>\n Trump used the same tactic to announce $4.9 billion in cuts last year,<\/a> including $3.2 billion in cuts to USAID, $322 million in cuts for the USAID\u2019s State Democracy fund and hundreds of millions of dollars from funding meant to support worldwide peacekeeping activities. <\/p>\n The $4.9 billion foreign aid cuts were challenged in court last year, but the Supreme Court ultimately ruled in favor<\/a> of the administration in September 2025.<\/p>\n Congress approved a rescissions package in July 2025 that nixed $9 billion<\/a> in foreign aid and for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS. <\/p>\n