Overview
- The White House sent a rescission package Friday night that withholds $810 million in congressional funding so the money will lapse at the fiscal-year cutoff unless lawmakers intervene.
- Most of the cuts target specific programs, including $567 million tied to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, $25 million for migrant-student support, $70 million for international-education grants, $28 million in health research funding, and $56 million for HUD housing counseling.
- The administration used a so-called pocket rescission by submitting the request with too little time left in the 45-day review window for Congress to act, a tactic the Government Accountability Office has called unlawful.
- Top appropriators from both parties have denounced the move and vowed congressional or legal responses, but the House is out of session and the timing narrows immediate options for lawmakers.
- A recent Supreme Court ruling that allowed a similar $4 billion pocket rescission last year complicates prospects for court challenges and raises the risk of near-term service disruptions for refugees, migrant students, researchers and housing clients.