Collins weighs pocket-rescission ban; no bill filed yet
Sen. Susan Collins said Senate appropriators are exploring a ban on pocket rescissions after Trump clawed back about $810 million in spending without consulting Congress. Sen. Jeff Merkley’s earlier ban bill was blocked. Multi-state suits keep the legality fight in court.
Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) told reporters she wants to curb pocket rescissions in the next spending bill after President Donald Trump canceled roughly $810 million in congressionally approved funds, the Washington Examiner reported. Collins said the Office of Management and Budget acted “without warning or consultation” and called the delay itself an unreported impoundment. Her committee statement labeled the package “unlawful,” citing GAO’s view that pocket rescissions are not permitted by the Impoundment Control Act. Sen. Lisa Murkowski called the tactic “sneaky.” Sen. John Cornyn said he does not believe the president has authority to rescind the money that way; Sen. James Lankford declined to call it unlawful.
Democrats’ earlier attempt to ban pocket rescissions in an August funding patch was blocked by Republicans. Sen. Jeff Merkley’s separate bill to eliminate the maneuver also stalled. Majority Leader John Thune said courts will probably decide legality. Politico reported the $810 million cancellation is Trump’s second pocket rescission in two years and that lawmakers in both parties are already talking about how to stop him from bypassing Congress on funding again, while noting it is too late to save this package. The package hit programs for noncitizens, DEI, education, health research, and housing counseling. Multi-state and advocacy lawsuits challenging the clawback remain in process; no overnight nationwide TRO or White House withdrawal landed.
For grant recipients and housing-counseling providers named in the package, the stake is whether appropriated dollars survive into the fiscal year. Pocket rescissions work by notifying Congress near fiscal-year end so funds expire before lawmakers finish the usual 45-day review. Watch whether Collins language attaches to year-end appropriations, how Merkley allies regroup, and early court rulings on Impoundment Control Act claims.
What we know:
Collins is exploring ban language and called the package unlawful; Merkley’s bill was blocked; about $810 million was clawed back; suits continue without a broader freeze overnight.
What we don’t:
The exact text of any Collins amendment, or whether it can clear a 60-vote Senate.
Where outlets agree The Washington Examiner and Collins’s Appropriations release agree she is fighting the $810 million pocket-rescission package as an unlawful end-run around Congress.
Where they differ Collins and Merkley frame the clawback as illegal while the White House and some House Republicans cast it as cutting programs they oppose.