Pocket Rescissions

Under the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, a President who wants to cancel appropriated funds sends Congress a rescission request and may withhold the money for 45 days of continuous session while Congress decides. If Congress does not approve, the money must be released. A pocket rescission is a request sent within 45 days of the end of the fiscal year, so that funds expiring on September 30 lapse during the withholding period whether or not Congress acts. The Government Accountability Office concluded in 2018 that the law does not allow this, because it requires funds to be made available for obligation.

On August 29, 2025, the President sent Congress a rescission request for about 4.9 billion dollars in foreign aid and withheld the funds. A federal district court ordered the money spent, but in September 2025 the Supreme Court allowed the administration to withhold it while litigation continued, and the funds expired. On September 25, 2026, the President sent a second pocket rescission of about 810 million dollars, the largest item 567 million dollars for an HHS refugee assistance program, with smaller amounts from the Homeland Security, Education, Justice, Treasury, Commerce, and Housing departments. GAO wrote on September 29, 2026, that the requests did not allow the President to withhold the funds past the end of the fiscal year, and lawsuits followed.

The Office of Management and Budget argues that the law's text allows a President to withhold funds for 45 days at any point in the year, including the last weeks, and that pocket rescissions were used occasionally before 2018. Critics, including appropriators of both parties, say the tactic lets a President cancel spending Congress approved without a vote, undercutting the power of the purse. Members have proposed amending the law to require that funds be released in time to be spent.