The Government Accountability Office ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration must spend $810 million it had planned to cancel, rejecting the White House’s attempt to unilaterally revoke funding without Congressional approval.
In a five-page decision, the GAO stated that the Office of Management and Budget cannot claw back appropriated funds unless lawmakers explicitly authorize the rescission. The watchdog agency argued that withholding money beyond its expiration date violates the constitutional separation of powers.
Constitutional Dispute Over Power of the Purse
Edda Emmanuelli Perez, GAO General Counsel, wrote that holding onto appropriated funds past their deadline undermines the legislative branch’s authority over federal spending. “Any withholding of appropriated funds beyond their date of expiration, regardless of size, subverts both the constitutional process for enacting federal law and Congress’s constitutional power of the purse,” Perez said.
The dispute centers on the Impoundment Control Act, which allows the President to request that Congress cancel previously approved funding. Under the law, lawmakers have 45 days to approve or modify a rescission request. If Congress takes no action within that window, the request is considered rejected, and the administration must spend the money.
The Trump administration has challenged this interpretation through “pocket rescissions.” These are requests submitted during the final 45 days of the federal fiscal year, which ends on September 30. The White House argues that pocket rescissions allow for cancellation regardless of Congressional sign-off, effectively bypassing the legislative veto process.
White House Pushes Back
Russ Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, disagreed with the GAO’s ruling. He called the decision unsurprising and accused the watchdog agency of abandoning its long-standing legal opinions regarding presidential rescission tools.
“GAO has become hyper partisan and Congress recently attempted to cut their spending because of it,” Vought wrote in response to the decision.
The administration’s strategy marks a shift from previous practices. In August 2025, the White House submitted its first pocket rescission request, cancelling $4.9 billion without Congressional action. More recently, on Friday, the administration sent another rescission request targeting refugee assistance at the Department of Health and Human Services, a Treasury Department climate program, and grants from the Minority Business Development Agency.
The GAO reiterated its disagreement with the pocket rescission theory in Tuesday’s report, maintaining that Congress did not cede its power of the purse through the Impoundment Control Act. The agency noted that the law permits only temporary withholding; funds must remain available for obligation unless Congress formally rescinds them.
This legal conflict follows a period where the White House worked with Republican lawmakers to rescind $9 billion in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and certain foreign aid accounts. Those cuts were made with legislative cooperation, distinguishing them from the unilateral pocket rescissions now under review by the GAO.