Watchdog says Trump can't cancel more than $800M in spending approved by Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is not permitted to withhold beyond the end of the fiscal year ending Wednesday more than $800 million in spending approved by Congress. That's according to a review from the Government Accountability Office that was sent to federal lawmakers and Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday.

The president announced his intention on Friday night to impound more than $800 million from 11 appropriations accounts, using a rare and contested power to axe funding for immigrant services and diversity-focused initiatives.

But the GAO said federal law provides that funds proposed for rescission must be made available at a certain point unless Congress completes action on a bill that goes along with the president's request.

“Any withholding of appropriated funds beyond their date of expiration, regardless of size, subverts both the constitutional process for enacting federal law and Congress's constitutional power of the purse,” wrote the GAO's general counsel.

Under the Impoundment Control Act, the administration can withhold funds for 45 days as Congress considers the issue. Lawmakers can pass a bill that includes all or part of the president's request, but if Congress has not acted on the request within that 45 day-window, the president must release the funds.

But Trump made congressional action all but impossible by announcing the cuts with just five days left in the federal fiscal year and with the House out of session through the November election. The GAO, an independent, non-partisan agency that works for Congress, says the maneuver known as a “pocket rescission” is illegal .

A year ago, Trump issued a pocket rescission for the first time in nearly 50 years by blocking $4.9 billion in congressionally approved foreign aid. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to block those rescissions, saying that Trump’s authority over foreign affairs weighed heavily in its decision. This year, Trump is targeting domestic spending.

The use of a “pocket rescission” fits into a broader pattern by the Trump administration to exert greater control over the U.S. government, eroding Congress’s power.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he again expects the courts to have the final word on the issue. Some of the proposed cuts are things that “many of us agree with, but the process by which they did it is going to be, I assume, subject to a lot of discussion and probably some litigation," he said.

Democrats have been highly critical of the president's effort and are working to tighten language in the next set of appropriations bills to prevent similar efforts in the future. Rep. Brendan Boyle, the ranking Democratic lawmaker on the House Budget Committee, sponsored legislation that would require the White House Office of Management and Budget to release funds at least 90 days before they expire.

“GAO’s decision is clear: President Trump’s pocket rescission is illegal and subverts Congress’s constitutional power of the purse," Boyle said. “No president has the authority to ignore Congress and unilaterally cancel funding that was signed into law.”

Most of the cuts sought by Trump are focused on Health and Human Services programs that serve refugees and unaccompanied minors accused of being in the country illegally. The administration says the funds are no longer necessary because illegal border crossings have diminished considerably .

Also targeted for cuts were a Department of Education program for migrant students, a Department of Justice office focused on reducing racial tensions, a business development initiative for minority entrepreneurs and housing counseling services from the Housing and Urban Development Department.