Are ‘pocket rescissions’ legal? Congressional watchdog says ‘no’

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) said this week that “pocket rescissions,” a controversial maneuver that President Trump’s budget office is considering to reduce spending, are not legal, potentially throwing a wrench into the administration’s plans.

A pocket rescission occurs when the president asks Congress to cancel already approved funding close to the end of the fiscal year, putting a hold on the money so it’s unlikely to ever be spent. While Congress has 45 days to approve or deny a rescissions request, a pocket rescission essentially runs out that clock.

Democrats are expecting Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought to employ a pocket rescission sometime before the Sept. 30 government funding deadline so the administration can claw back funding already appropriated by Congress without congressional approval.

But the GAO, citing a 2018 decision, wrote on its website this week that such a move would be illegal.

The agency wrote that the Impoundment Control Act does not provide a president the authority to bypass Congress’s power of the purse.

It argued that a pocket rescission could allow a president to avoid spending money regardless of whether Congress approves a rescission request and would cede Congress’s power of the purse.

“If Congress wanted a president to have that authority, it would need to change the law,” the agency wrote.

It cited a legal analysis from 2018 to back up its guidance.

Even some Republicans on Capitol Hill, who last month approved Trump’s first request to cancel already allocated funding, have balked at the prospect of the White House budget office using a pocket rescission to claw back funding previously approved by Congress.

“Pocket rescissions, I think, are unconstitutional,” said Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee. “So, just like impoundment, I think, is unconstitutional.”

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) sought assurances from Trump not to employ a pocket rescission when he negotiated with the president last weekend over a potential deal to speed up the confirmation of scores of lower-level executive branch nominees.

Trump turned down Schumer’s offer, telling the New York Democrat: “Go to hell.”

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