Somewhere in the federal budget, the United States government was paying for doctoral dissertations on "queer and trans community building." Your tax dollars. Congressionally approved. Already spent in their heads.
President Trump just took it back.
The White House is using a budget tool called a pocket rescission — the first in nearly 50 years — to claw back $810 million in congressionally approved spending before the fiscal year ends on September 30. The mechanism works by proposing the cancellation of appropriated funds and running out the clock on Congress's 45-day review window. The House is out of session through the November election. By the time anyone could formally object, the money's already gone.
Fox News reported the breakdown. The largest chunk — $567 million — was earmarked for Health and Human Services programs supporting refugees, asylees, and noncitizens. Another $25 million was going to migrant student education programs. And $70 million was categorized as "Woke International Education," which funded foreign student and faculty exchange programs.
Then there's the line-item detail that tells you everything about where federal money actually goes when nobody's watching. The targeted programs include an LGBT youth summit, therapy workshops for "Latinx" communities, a Justice Department office dedicated to "reducing racial tensions," a minority entrepreneur business development initiative, and HUD counseling services. Every one of these survived the appropriations process. Every one had a budget line. Every one was approved by the same Congress that tells you there's no waste to cut.
$810 million. That's not a rounding error. That's not symbolic. That's specific money going to specific programs that a specific number of Americans knew about — and that number was very, very small until this week.
OMB Director Russ Vought is the architect of the legal argument. His position: the Impoundment Control Act doesn't explicitly forbid rescinding funds near the end of a fiscal year. The Government Accountability Office disagrees, comparing pocket rescissions to the line-item veto the Supreme Court already ruled unconstitutional. Sen. Susan Collins, Republican from Maine, called it "illegal" outright. "The independent Government Accountability Office has concluded that pocket rescissions are unlawful and not permitted by the Impoundment Control Act," Collins said. "I will work with my colleagues to address these illegal actions."
Collins is facing a tough re-election campaign. Her colleagues are out of session. The fiscal year ends in three days.
This isn't the first time Trump has used the maneuver. One year ago, the administration issued a $4.9 billion pocket rescission targeting foreign aid. The Supreme Court declined to block it, citing presidential authority over foreign affairs while allowing litigation to continue. That precedent — or near-precedent, depending on which lawyer you ask — is the foundation Vought is building on.
The last president to attempt a pocket rescission was Jimmy Carter. That was almost half a century ago, and Carter proposed his well before the fiscal year deadline. Trump's version runs the clock down to days.
The legal fight will continue. The GAO will issue statements. Collins will draft letters. But the money was funding dissertations about "queer and trans community building" and workshops labeled "Latinx therapy" — programs that exist because the appropriations process is 4,000 pages long and nobody reads past page 12.
September 30 is Monday. The fiscal year ends. $810 million doesn't.
