From the National Council of Nonprofits
Last Friday, President Trump announced “pocket rescissions” of $810 million in funds previously appropriated for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Education, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Department of Justice (DOJ). The largest claw back included $567 for immigration and refugee services under HHS with more rescissions to programs for foreign students, climate change, minority business development, LGBTQ groups, and DEI.
The action is legally questionable. The White House claimed authority to make the rescissions under the Impoundment Control Act, which President Trump used last year to claw back $4 billion in foreign aid programs. Senator Collins (R-ME), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, called the move “the most recent attempt … to undermine Congress’s Constitutional power of the purse” and argued that the Government Accountability Office “has concluded that pocket rescissions are unlawful and not permitted by the Impoundment Control Act.” The U.S. Supreme Court allowed the 2025 rescissions to proceed but noted that the “order should not be read as a final determination on the merits.” Formal Congressional response would be challenging despite normally having 45 days to review the action because the fiscal year ends Sept. 30 and the House of Representatives is out of session until November.