Exclusive—Tera Dahl-Jones: Pocket Rescissions Expose Congress’s Spending Problem

Washington is furious that President Donald Trump is trying to stop $810 million from being spent. My question is much simpler: Why did Congress spend it in the first place?

On Wednesday, Republicans blocked a Democratic bill that Democrats claimed would “stop President Trump from robbing the American people” through what they call illegal “pocket rescissions.” Robbing the American people? They have that exactly backwards. The trump administration is trying to stop Washington from spending Americans’ hard-earned money, while Congress is demanding that it go out the door—with hundreds of millions slated for programs funding illegal immigrants, woke DEI programs, and every other country besides America. Congress should look in the mirror. American taxpayers earned this money. Congress took it, appropriated it, and decided how to spend it. So the real question is: Who is robbing whom?

I worked at USAID during the first Trump administration and helped dismantle it under the State Department. The amount of waste, fraud, and unconstitutional abuse of American’s hard-earned money would blow the mind of every American taxpayer, and Congress needs to start being held accountable.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) says President Trump’s pocket rescission violates the Impoundment Control Act and “subverts” Congress’s constitutional power of the purse. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) says, “No president has the authority to ignore Congress and unilaterally cancel funding that was signed into law.” Congress wants to talk about constitutional power. Good. Then let’s talk about Congress’s constitutional limits.

Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to lay and collect taxes, pay debts, and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States. Not illegal immigrants. Not the world. The United States of America.

Those words should matter every time Congress reaches into an American’s paycheck.

President Trump’s nearly $1 billion in funding included cutting $567 million from Health and Human Services (HHS) for refugee and migrant programs; $28 million for health and research programs related to climate change and gender transition care; $15 million from the Department of Justice (DOJ) dealing with community conflicts over race, gender, and sexual orientation; and $9 million from the Department of Treasury’s Tropical Forest and Coral Reed Conservation Act program, among others. How is any of that for the “general welfare” or “common defense” of Americans? That would be a hard case to sell.

Before members of Congress pound their fists about their “power of the purse,” they should go home and explain those programs to the people filling that purse. Stand in front of a farmer struggling to keep his operation alive and explain why Washington needs another dollar for federal programs serving illegal immigrants before addressing his community’s needs, using his own taxpayer dollars.

Look at parents whose children attend an aging school and explain why Washington found millions for illegal immigrant programs while their own school needs repairs. Look at a rural community losing medical services and explain why protecting tropical forests and coral reefs overseas was important enough to take money from Americans to finance it. That is not the job of the U.S. Government. Look at families driving deteriorating roads and bridges and explain why Congress appropriated hundreds of millions of dollars for programs serving illegal immigrants, refugees, and asylees.

Maybe members of Congress have an answer. I think Americans would like to hear it. Tell your constituents exactly how much each program advances the “common defense” and “general welfare” of the United States.

Let’s look at what that money could’ve gone to for the American people. Consider just the $567.4 million proposed rescission from HHS for migrants and refugees. That amount could represent roughly $18.9 million for each of the 30 congressional districts. It could fund 11 $50 million rural hospitals; hundreds of miles of locally funded road projects; or major investments in schools, emergency medical services, and infrastructure. That is what elected officials should be spending American taxpayer dollars on.

GAO says the president cannot run out the clock and effectively cancel spending Congress enacted. GAO also explicitly says its decision should not be interpreted as taking a position on the merits of these programs. Then Americans should.

Congressional power of the purse is not congressional ownership of the purse. The purse belongs to the American people. Every federal dollar started with somebody working. A rancher raised cattle for it. A mechanic turned wrenches for it. A waitress worked another shift for it. A small business owner risked everything for it. A family postponed something they wanted and watched Washington take part of their paycheck. Congress wants Americans to respect its power of the purse, then Congress should start by respecting the people who fill it.

I have seen firsthand the waste, fraud, and abuse of hard-earned taxpayer dollars and Congress’s lack of oversight. This needs to end. Thank you, President Trump and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought for cutting this wasteful spending and providing accountability for American taxpayers’ dollars.

Tera Dahl-Jones has served as a former deputy chief of staff for the National Security Council and is a former senior advisor at the Bureau of Counterterrorism for the U.S. Department of State.