The Government Accountability Office concluded that the administration’s pocket rescission maneuver — submitting a rescission request with fewer than 45 days remaining in the fiscal year so that funds would lapse before Congress could act — was unlawful under the Impoundment Control Act. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, publicly stated that the pocket rescission violated both the ICA and Article I of the Constitution, representing one of the few Republican voices to formally challenge the administration’s impoundment strategy.
GAO Concludes Pocket Rescission Is Unlawful