Trump uses a pocket rescission to cancel $810 million that Congress appropriated, by the Bloomberg count

What happened

On the evening of Friday, September 25, 2026, the White House announced a pocket rescission of what it called nearly $1 billion in appropriated funds. Bloomberg Government and CNBC put the package at $810 million. It included $567 million for HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement programs serving refugees, asylees and unaccompanied children.

Other cuts included $28 million in HHS research and $15 million in DHS grants for services to non-citizens. The package also covered funds for migrant-student education, housing counseling, minority business development and the Justice Department’s Community Relations Service. The request arrived 5 days before the fiscal year ended, so the money lapsed before Congress’s 45-day review. Senator Susan Collins has called pocket rescissions illegal.

On September 29, the Government Accountability Office ruled that the special message does not let the president withhold the money past the end of fiscal 2026. “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,” GAO General Counsel Edda Emmanuelli Perez wrote. “The President may not force the expiration of budget authority Congress has already enacted and did not rescind.”

Who benefited

The White House keeps money Congress appropriated, with no vote by Congress to rescind it. The request came 5 days before the fiscal year ended, and the funds lapsed before the 45-day review could run. The White House says the package is nearly $1 billion; Bloomberg Government and CNBC count $810 million.

Who wanted something

The White House wanted the funds for programs serving refugees, asylees, unaccompanied children and non-citizens cancelled. The largest piece, $567 million, was for HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement programs. Others covered migrant-student education, housing counseling, minority business development and the Community Relations Service.

Who lost out

Refugees, asylees and unaccompanied children lost $567 million in HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement programs that Congress had funded. Migrant students, housing counseling clients and minority-owned businesses lost smaller amounts. Congress lost its power over the spending, and your taxpayer money was withheld for a purpose Congress had not approved.

Why it matters

GAO ruled four days later that the withholding was unlawful, and the money lapsed anyway. Senator Susan Collins, a Republican appropriator, agrees with GAO. The money lapsed on September 30, before Congress’s 45-day review could run, so the funds are gone whatever the legal finding.

Sources The White House (primary)CNBCBloomberg GovernmentAssociated Press (via ABC News)U.S. Government Accountability Office (primary)