Schumer blasts Trump administration for unusual ‘pocket rescission’ package
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) blasted a White House budget office for advancing proposal to rescind $4.9 billion in funding allocated to the State Department and the dismantled U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), calling it “unlawful” and a rejection of bipartisanship.
The Democratic leader warned it also takes Washington a step closer to a government shutdown as it signals President Trump and congressional Republicans are “going it alone” into the Sept. 30 funding deadline.
“Today’s announcement of the administration’s plan to advance an unlawful ‘pocket rescission’ package is further proof President Trump and congressional Republicans are hellbent on rejecting bipartisanship and ‘going it alone’ this fall,” Schumer said in a statement.
“As the country stares down next month’s government funding deadline on September 30th, it is clear that neither President Trump nor congressional Republicans have any plan to avoid a painful and entirely unnecessary shutdown,” he said.
Trump sent late Thursday to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) a request to claw back the funding.
Congress will have 45 days to process the request once it returns to work next week after the August recess, a clock that begins ticking down once lawmakers resume the session.
Trump’s proposal is known as a “pocket rescission” because there are fewer than 45 days until the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, at which point the Office of Management and Budget will be able to return the congressionally appropriated funds identified by the rescissions request back to the Treasury Department.
The tactic has not been used in nearly 50 years.
Schumer criticized Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) for not agreeing to sit down with him and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) to initiate a “four corners” negotiation to find a government funding deal before Sept. 30.
The intention of the administration to rescind nearly $5 billion in funding Congress has already approved before the end of the fiscal year has angered Democrats, even though the move was expected, and will complicate the negotiations to avoid a shutdown.
“Speaker Johnson and Leader Thune have repeatedly refused to meet with Democrats to discuss a bipartisan path forward. At the same time, President Trump has now okayed an unlawful gambit to circumvent the Congress all together with a so-called ‘pocket-rescission’ package,” Schumer said.
The New York Democrat said “it doesn’t have to be this way” and urged “reasonable Republicans” not to “go along with the madness.”
“Republicans don’t have to be a rubber stamp for this carnage,” he said. “Democrats stand ready to work with anyone to help American families, lower health care costs and secure our communities. But if Republicans are insistent on going it alone, Democrats won’t be party to their destruction.”
The move has also seen some pushback from Republicans.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) said the timing of the administration’s rescissions request is “an apparent attempt to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval” and questioned its legality.
“GAO has concluded that this type of rescission is unlawful and not permitted by the Impoundment Control Act,” she said in a statement, referring to the Government Accountability Office.