President Trump just put a red pen through $810 million in federal spending, and the list of programs on the chopping block reads like a tour through Washington’s most ideological priorities.
The White House sent Congress a rare late-year rescission package targeting money for non-citizen services, race-based grants, international climate projects, open-border nonprofits and what the administration calls “woke” education programs.
This is exactly the kind of spending voters are told is too deeply buried in the federal machine to stop. President Trump is testing that claim with a blunt answer: if the money has not been spent, taxpayers should get it back.
Trump cancels nearly $1B in funding for illegal immigrants and race-focused programs in new ‘pocket’ rescission
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 25, 2026
The White House says the biggest single cut is $567 million from Department of Health and Human Services programs serving non-citizens, refugees and asylees. Another $15 million would come from a Biden-era Department of Homeland Security program that funded shelter, food and other services for illegal aliens.
That is only the beginning.
The package also claws back $10 million from programs the administration says helped aliens enter the country, plus $25 million from Education Department programs for non-citizens. It cancels $15 million for the Justice Department’s Community Relations Service, an office the White House says became entangled in political and ideological activism.
Then come the programs that sound like they were designed by a progressive grant-writing committee.
There is $10 million in Minority Business Development Agency grants that the administration says awarded taxpayer money on the basis of race. There is $9 million for foreign climate-debt relief.
Another $70 million is tied to international education programs, including projects built around gender ideology and DEI.
POCKET RESCISSION: Trump moves to cancel $810 million in congressionally approved spending, targeting programs that fund refugee services, diversity initiatives, and what the White House calls “Woke International Education.”
— Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) September 26, 2026
The administration is also targeting $28 million in HHS research it describes as ideological or duplicative, $56 million for nonprofit housing-counseling grants and $5 million from the HHS Office of Minority Health.
Put it all together and the picture becomes clear. The package does not cancel one giant building project or weapons system.
It pulls hundreds of millions of dollars from agencies, grant programs and activist networks, exactly where political spending becomes difficult for ordinary taxpayers to see.
That is why the mechanism matters.
A president normally asks Congress to rescind approved spending, beginning a 45-day review period. This package arrived just before the federal fiscal year ends on September 30.
The administration’s position is that the targeted, unobligated money can be withheld until it expires, a move known as a pocket rescission.
Bloomberg Government reports that the package spans HHS, Commerce, Education, DHS, HUD, Justice and international programs. The outlet also notes that the timing has triggered a sharp legal dispute because Congress will not have the usual 45 days to act before the fiscal year closes.
Democrats are already calling the maneuver illegal, and even Republican Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins has objected to the pocket-rescission theory. Their challenge could determine how much power future presidents have to stop expiring funds.
A pocket rescission is an illegal line item veto. It’s the president canceling the lines of spending he doesn’t like. Republicans said they would never let this happen. Well here it is. If they have any integrity they’ll join us in ending this practice.
— Senator Jeff Merkley (@JeffMerkley) September 25, 2026
The courts may ultimately decide how far this authority reaches. The political question is easier to understand: should an administration be forced to shovel out money for programs it considers wasteful simply because the calendar is running out?
Washington’s spending culture depends on momentum. A program gets funded, an agency moves the money, a network of outside groups begins receiving checks, and taxpayers are told that reversing any of it is impossible.
President Trump’s move challenges that entire system.
It also forces Congress to defend the details in public. Lawmakers who oppose the package now have to explain why taxpayers should keep financing services for non-citizens, foreign climate-debt relief, race-based grantmaking and ideological education projects.
That is a debate worth having.
For years, conservatives were handed promises to cut waste sometime later, after one more study, one more committee and one more election. This action puts actual dollars and actual programs on the table right now.
$810 million will not erase the national debt. It still represents $810 million that Washington will not be able to funnel into programs the current administration has rejected.
Every dollar belongs to the American people before it belongs to an agency, a contractor or an activist nonprofit. President Trump just reminded the federal bureaucracy of that fact.
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
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