Trump administration rescinds nearly $1B in funds already approved by Congress

President Donald Trump canceled nearly $1 billion in spending that’s already been approved by Congress, a move that senators on both sides of the aisle are calling "illegal" and "theft from the American people."

The White House announced the funding cuts in a press release Friday, describing them as "the most harmful government spending."

What did Trump cut funding for? 

Big picture view:

Most of the cuts are focused on Health and Human Services programs that serve refugees and unaccompanied minors accused of being in the country illegally. The White House says the funds are no longer needed because illegal border crossings have gone down significantly. 

The administration also cut a Department of Education program for migrant students, a Department of Justice office focused on reducing racial tensions, a business development initiative for minority entrepreneurs, housing counseling services from the Housing and Urban Development Department and a series of grants from the Health and Human Services Department that the administration called "outright harmful and blatantly ideological."

By the numbers:

In addition to immigrant services, the White House said it’s rescinding $70 million for what it called "woke" international education programs, $28 million in grant funding for Health and Human Services research programs, and $9 million in debt relief for foreign countries that fund climate change policies. Another $10 million is being withheld from a minority business development program.

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According to the White House, some of the programs are run by people who worked for former President Barack Obama, a Democrat. 

What does Congress say about Trump’s cuts? 

What they're saying:

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were quick to condemn the White House’s move. 

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement that the action came without warning or consultation. She also said she would work to address with colleagues "these illegal actions."

"Not only is the delay itself an impoundment that was not reported to Congress, but also it is a usurpation of Congress’s appropriations powers," Collins said. "OMB is an agency of the executive branch. It does not get to decide which programs are worth funding."

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Collins called it the latest attempt by OMB to "undermine Congress’s Constitutional power of the purse."

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the lead Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, described the White House action as "theft from the American people, plain and simple."

"These are funds Congress has delivered on a bipartisan basis and should be helping people—not cut off by a president more focused on building a ballroom than investing in families," Murray said.

Murray said that in recent spending negotiations, Democrats fought to include language to prevent the administration from usurping Congress’ power on spending decisions, but Republicans have declined to go along.

"While Trump spends tax dollars on ads promoting himself, Congress needs to reassert its powers to help people, and it’s past time Republicans join us in that fight," she said.

Are Trump's funding cuts legal? 

Dig deeper:

Under federal law, Congress has 45 days to review the president’s proposed spending cuts before they take effect. But Trump made that all but impossible by announcing them with just five days left in the federal fiscal year and the House out of session through the November election. The Government Accountability Office, which is an arm of Congress, says the maneuver known as a "pocket rescission" is illegal.

The backstory:

A year ago, Trump issued a pocket rescission for the first time in nearly 50 years by blocking $4.9 billion in congressionally approved foreign aid. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to block those rescissions, saying that Trump’s authority over foreign affairs weighed heavily in its decision. This year, Trump is targeting domestic spending.

The use of a "pocket rescission" fits into a broader pattern by the Trump administration to exert greater control over the U.S. government, eroding Congress’s power.

What was essentially the last pocket rescission occurred in 1977 when then-Democratic President Jimmy Carter rescinded it, and the Trump administration argues it’s a legally permissible tool, despite some murkiness, since Carter had initially proposed the clawback well ahead of the 45-day deadline.