President Donald Trump last week canceled nearly $1 billion in federal funding approved by Congress, mainly focused on HHS programs serving undocumented immigrants and unaccompanied children.

"These funds previously went to pro-illegal immigration programs and Non-Governmental Organizations that provided services to refugees, asylees, and other non-citizens and put unaccompanied children in harm's way," the White House said in a press release, adding that recent decreases in border crossings meant that funding towards these programs became excessive and warranted their recission.

In total, there were $810 million in cuts. Aside from the cuts to HHS programs, there were cuts to 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, and a Housing and Urban Development Department program that provided housing counseling services.

According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, Trump canceled the funds through a process known as a "pocket recission," which occurs "when a president asks Congress to rescind (or cancel) funds very close to the end of the fiscal year — so close that the funds expire before they can be used for new obligations."

Under the Impoundment Control Act, a presidential administration is allowed to temporarily withhold funding for 45 days while Congress considers a recissions request. If lawmakers choose not to approve the request, the funds must be released. However, a pocket recission occurs when the president sends the request to Congress within 45 days of the end of the fiscal year, essentially pausing the funding until it runs out at the end of the year regardless of congressional action.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Trump's use of the pocket recission process was "unlawful" and called on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to spend all of the $1.3 billion appropriated for fiscal year 2025 as intended.

"This move shows that OMB intentionally withheld these funds for months to execute this unlawful cancellation of appropriations that were approved on a bipartisan basis and signed into law," Collins said in a social media post. "OMB is an agency of the executive branch. It does not get to decide which programs are worth funding."

(Freking/Cooper, Associated Press, 9/25; Bhakta, The Hill, 9/25)

White House backs away from plan to control NIH grants

The Trump administration has backtracked from a plan to draft an executive order establishing a board that would decide which grants NIH should fund, according to people familiar with the situation who spoke to the New York Times.

Initially, people with knowledge of the situation told the Times and POLITICO that President Donald Trump had directed Russ Vought, director of OMB, to draft the order to establish the board, which would have been able to veto grants that didn't align with the Trump administration's political agenda.