Trump cancels nearly $1bn in funding Congress had already approved
President Donald Trump has used a rare and disputed executive power to cancel almost $1bn in previously approved federal spending, mostly targeting immigrant services, drawing criticism even from a senior Republican senator.
The White House announced on Friday that Donald Trump is canceling nearly $1bn in spending that Congress had already approved. The administration's Office of Management and Budget described the cuts as targeting what it called "the most harmful government spending."
The bulk of the canceled funds had been directed toward services for immigrants, including non-profit organizations that assist refugees and unaccompanied minors accused of being in the country illegally. Officials argued the money is no longer needed because illegal border crossings have dropped significantly. A White House release on the cuts pointed out that some of the affected organizations are run by people who previously worked in the Obama administration.
The move drew sharp criticism from Republican senator Susan Collins, who chairs the Senate appropriations committee and is currently in a difficult re-election race. She said the cuts were made without warning or consultation and vowed to work with colleagues to push back against what she called "illegal actions." Collins argued that the OMB, as an executive branch agency, has no authority to unilaterally decide which programs deserve funding.
Democratic senator Patty Murray, vice-chair of the appropriations committee, called the action "theft from the American people," stressing that the funds had been approved on a bipartisan basis and were meant to help people rather than be redirected.
Normally, Congress has an opportunity to review a president's proposed spending cuts before they take effect. Trump largely avoided that scrutiny by announcing the cuts with only five days remaining in the federal fiscal year — a tactic known as a "pocket rescission," which the Government Accountability Office has deemed illegal. A year earlier, Trump used the same maneuver for the first time in 50 years to block $4.9bn in foreign aid, a move the Supreme Court declined to halt. This time the target is domestic spending rather than foreign aid, fitting a broader pattern in which the administration has sought to expand executive control at the expense of congressional authority.
