GAO rules Trump’s US$810-million ‘pocket rescission’ unlawful

The nonpartisan U.S. Government Accountability Office ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration’s plan to cancel about US$810 million in congressionally approved spending through a late-year “pocket rescission” is unlawful, insisting the money must be made available for obligation.

GAO General Counsel Edda Emmanuelli Perez wrote that withholding appropriated funds past their expiration “subverts both the constitutional process for enacting federal law and Congress’s constitutional power of the purse.” Under the Impoundment Control Act, presidents may ask Congress to rescind funds and hold them temporarily for 45 days; if lawmakers do not approve the cut, the money must be spent. A request filed inside that final window of the fiscal year — which ends Sept. 30 — is what budget lawyers call a pocket rescission.

The White House Office of Management and Budget had targeted refugee assistance at Health and Human Services, a Treasury coral-reef and tropical-forest debt-forgiveness program, and Minority Business Development Agency grants, among other accounts. OMB Director Russ Vought rejected GAO’s conclusion as unsurprising and accused the watchdog of partisan bias, arguing older GAO opinions recognized the tool.

The decision deepens a running clash over who controls federal spending. The administration used a similar pocket rescission in August 2025 to cancel roughly US$4.9 billion without a congressional vote, after earlier winning a formal rescissions package that cut public broadcasting and foreign-aid accounts. Appropriators on both sides of the aisle have already floated legislative language and court challenges to block repeats.

Sources: GAO Review of the President's Special Message of September 25, 2026 — GAO (PDF via Punchbowl): https://punchbowl.news/wp-content/uploads/GAO-B-338788-Review-of-Impoundment-Message-of-September-25-2026-1.pdf | Government watchdog asserts Donald Trump's $810 million pocket rescission was unlawful — The Hill: https://thehill.com/business/budget/6118661-gao-trump-rescission-unlawful/ | Trump’s funding cancellation violates budget law, GAO says — Roll Call: https://rollcall.com/2026/09/29/trumps-funding-cancellation-violates-budget-law-gao-says/