Saturday, September 26, 2026 - 38 days to November 3

Late Friday, the White House told Congress it wants to cancel $810 million that Congress already approved and the President already signed into law (White House rescissions package letter, Sep 25, 2026 (https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/September-Rescissions-Package-for-Speaker-Johnson_signed-9.25.26.pdf); NBC News (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/lawmakers-slam-trumps-unlawful-move-cut-810-million-federal-funds-rcna599942)). The White House's own press statement called the same move "nearly $1 billion" (White House (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2026/09/president-trump-takes-historic-action-to-eliminate-wasteful-and-harmful-spending/)). Either way, the timing is the tell.

Under the Impoundment Control Act, a president can hold money for 45 days of continuous congressional session while Congress decides whether to approve a rescission request. The White House sent this one with about five days left in the federal fiscal year, which ends Wednesday, September 30 - and with the House out of session through the November election (AP via WBAL (https://www.wbal.com/trump-administration-uses-rare-authority-to-claw-back-nearly-1b-in-spending-approved-by-congress); NBC News (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/lawmakers-slam-trumps-unlawful-move-cut-810-million-federal-funds-rcna599942)). That maneuver is called a "pocket rescission." The Government Accountability Office, Congress's own watchdog, says pocket rescissions are not allowed - that they let a president shorten the life of money Congress already appropriated (GAO WatchBlog (https://www.gao.gov/blog/what-pocket-rescission-and-it-legal)).

This is not a partisan quarrel about a line item. It is a fight over who holds the power of the purse.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine - a Republican, and chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee - called the move "unlawful" and said she would work with colleagues "to address these illegal actions." She wrote that OMB "does not get to decide which programs are worth funding," and that the delay itself looks like an unreported impoundment (NBC News (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/lawmakers-slam-trumps-unlawful-move-cut-810-million-federal-funds-rcna599942); CBS News (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-cancels-billion-spending-pocket-rescission/); AP via WBAL (https://www.wbal.com/trump-administration-uses-rare-authority-to-claw-back-nearly-1b-in-spending-approved-by-congress)). Sen. Patty Murray, the lead Democrat on Appropriations, called it "theft from the American people, plain and simple" (AP via WBAL (https://www.wbal.com/trump-administration-uses-rare-authority-to-claw-back-nearly-1b-in-spending-approved-by-congress)).

Look at what is on the chopping block. The largest single cut is about $567 million from HHS Refugee and Entrant Assistance (White House package (https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/September-Rescissions-Package-for-Speaker-Johnson_signed-9.25.26.pdf); CBS News (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-cancels-billion-spending-pocket-rescission/)). And $56 million - nearly the entire FY2025 Housing Counseling Assistance account - would be yanked from HUD programs that fund counseling and education for people buying a home, fighting foreclosure, or trying to stay housed (White House package (https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/September-Rescissions-Package-for-Speaker-Johnson_signed-9.25.26.pdf); CBS News (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-cancels-billion-spending-pocket-rescission/)). I have not seen a sourced report naming which Delaware counselors lose which dollars. I do not need a spreadsheet to know what housing counseling is for. It is for working people. Not for the people who write the rescission memos.

Last year, the administration used the same tactic on about $4.9 billion in foreign aid. The Supreme Court declined to block that rescission and pointed to the president's foreign-affairs role; it did not issue a final ruling on the merits (AP via WBAL (https://www.wbal.com/trump-administration-uses-rare-authority-to-claw-back-nearly-1b-in-spending-approved-by-congress); CBS News (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-cancels-billion-spending-pocket-rescission/)). This year's package hits domestic accounts. That is a different fight - and it is happening while voters are 38 days from the ballot box.

I spent years as a travel ICU nurse. In a hospital, you do not get to pocket the money for the meds after the order is signed and hope nobody notices before the shift ends. Congress appropriated these funds. The law set a review clock. Running out the clock is not thrift. It is power telling the people's branch that their vote on spending does not count.

Here is where I stand. If a president wants to cancel money Congress approved, bring it to Congress in daylight - with enough time for a real vote, before the fiscal year dies and before an election. No pocket games. No blank checks. Delaware deserves a senator who will defend Congress's power of the purse whether the White House likes the program or not.

This campaign is funded by people. No Super PAC money. Ever.

November 3 - write TRAVIS JACK STEVENS - travisjackstevens.com (https://travisjackstevens.com)