More Fiscal Mismanagement

Happy New Year! I wish you all a joyous, fulfilling, and constitutionally compliant new federal fiscal year. Hey, a guy can hope, right? The dawn of a new federal fiscal year seems a good time to survey the Trump Administration’s latest maneuvering to wrestle the power of the purse out of the hands of a rather snoozy Congress. And the news is not good. On the last Friday of fiscal year 2026, the Administration announced the “pocket rescission” of $810 million of appropriated funds for a variety of programs it dislikes. A “pocket rescission” is a scheme concocted by OMB Director Russell Vought under which the President submits a “special message” to Congress under the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 requesting rescission of the funds but does so too late in the fiscal year for Congress to act before the funds subject to the request expire. Under Director Vought’s theory, the submission of the request authorizes the Administration to withhold these funds (although he is unable to…