On September 25, President Trump sent House Speaker Johnson a formal rescissions request proposing 11 budget authority cuts totaling $810 million. In a new insight, Director of Fiscal Policy Jordan Haring provides an overview of the request.

Key points:

• By sending the request only a few days before the funding expires and withholding it through September 30 – the end of fiscal year (FY) 2026 – the administration seeks to prevent the funds from being spent even if Congress does not enact the cuts; this move is called a “pocket rescission.”
• The Government Accountability Office says the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 does not allow congressionally appropriated funds to be withheld through their expiration.
• The Supreme Court allowed a similar FY 2025 pocket rescission to proceed while litigation continued but did not issue a final ruling on the legality of pocket rescissions.

Read the analysis.