Overview

• The administration plans to use a pocket rescission under the Impoundment Control Act to let billions in unspent funds automatically expire without Senate approval.
• OMB Director Russell Vought and the Department of Government Efficiency have urged the tactic as a way to implement DOGE’s recommended spending reductions.
• The initial rescission proposal targets $9.4 billion in cuts to public broadcasting and foreign aid programs, with further tens of billions under consideration.
• Senator Susan Collins has declared the maneuver illegal and in conflict with Congress’s power of the purse.
• The approach contradicts a 2018 Government Accountability Office ruling and is expected to face legal challenges over its constitutionality.