WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump moved Friday to unilaterally withhold more than $800 million in spending approved by Congress for immigration, race and education programs, employing a rare budget maneuver that bypasses lawmakers and deepens a constitutional fight over the power of the purse.
The targeted programs include refugee assistance, business development for racial minorities and overseas conservation efforts. The White House said the programs “supported illegal immigration, stoked racial tensions and promoted alarmist approaches to the environment,” according to Reuters.
The move uses a so-called “pocket rescission,” in which the president asks Congress to cancel approved spending so late in the fiscal cycle that lawmakers cannot act before the money expires — effectively killing the funding without a vote.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the Republican chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, called the move “illegal,” describing it as “a clear violation of the law” and the latest attempt by the Office of Management and Budget to undermine Congress’s constitutional power of the purse.
The Supreme Court last year declined to block Trump from using the same tactic to withhold $4.9 billion in approved foreign aid while litigation continued, a precedent the administration is now leaning on.
The fight lands just weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, with control of Congress — and the federal budget — on the ballot.