Explainer · Policy
The September 2026 Rescissions Package
On September 25, 2026, the White House asked Congress to cancel $810 million in funding it had already approved, five days before that money expires. Seventy percent of it comes out of the account that funds resettlement services for refugees, asylees, and Afghan allies. This page explains the package, its national and state and local impact, and includes a district-by-district map.
Last updated September 28, 2026
A rescission is a request to un-spend money Congress already appropriated. Normally Congress gets 45 days to say yes or no, and if it says nothing the money must be released. This package was sent on September 25, and every dollar in it expires on September 30. The clock cannot run out before the money does. That is what makes it a "pocket rescission," a maneuver the Government Accountability Office has said violates the Impoundment Control Act and that the White House says is a lawful, long-neglected presidential authority.Source: Letter from the President to Speaker Mike Johnson, September 25, 2026, transmitting rescission proposals R26-1 through R26-11 under 2 U.S.C. 683(a).
What happened
Eleven rescissions, seven agencies, $810 million.
The letter, signed by the President and addressed to Speaker Johnson, reports 11 rescissions of budget authority under section 1012(a) of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. Each comes with a one-paragraph justification.
The proposals touch the Departments of Commerce, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, and Justice, plus one international assistance account at Treasury. The stated rationale for most items is to "eliminate unnecessary and wasteful spending." Several justifications also describe the programs as inconsistent with the Administration's executive orders on immigration and on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
One structural fact matters more than any single line item. Every account in the package has an availability period that ends in fiscal year 2026, which closes on September 30, 2026. The package was transmitted on September 25. If the funds stay withheld through September 30, they lapse whether or not Congress ever votes.
The line items
What the package cancels.
Amounts and descriptions below are taken from the package itself. The characterizations in quotation marks are the Administration's.
$567.4 million · HHS Refugee and Entrant Assistance
R26-1. Rescinds $567 million of the $6.3 billion appropriated in FY 2024 for the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which funds services for refugees, asylees, SIV holders, Afghan and other eligible parolees, and unaccompanied children. The justification says the account is "overfunded" because border and refugee executive orders have "dramatically curtailed arrivals."
$69.6 million · Education, International Education
R26-8. Rescinds nearly all of the $70.3 million appropriated in FY 2026 for International Education and Foreign Language domestic programs, which fund language, area studies, and research fellowships at U.S. institutions.
$56.1 million · HUD Housing Counseling
R26-10. Rescinds $56 million of the $58 million appropriated in FY 2025 for HUD-approved housing counseling grants to nonprofits and public entities that advise renters, first-time buyers, and households facing foreclosure.
$27.7 million · HHS Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
R26-9. Rescinds $28 million of AHRQ's $345 million FY 2026 appropriation, describing much of its research as "duplicative" of work at NIH.
$24.9 million · Education, Migrant Student Programs
R26-4. Rescinds $25 million of $52 million in FY 2026 competitive grants for the children of seasonal agricultural workers, including the High School Equivalency and College Assistance Migrant programs.
$15 million · DHS Alternatives to Detention Case Management
R26-2. Rescinds the full FY 2025 appropriation for the ATD Case Management Pilot Program, which funded nonprofits to provide mental health, social services, legal orientation, and cultural orientation to people in immigration proceedings.
$15 million · DOJ Community Relations Service
R26-5. Rescinds $15 million of the $20 million appropriated in FY 2026 for CRS, the DOJ office created by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to mediate community conflicts and respond to hate incidents. The justification says DOJ already eliminated the office and transferred its functions to U.S. Attorneys.
$10 million · USCIS Citizenship and Integration Grants
R26-3. Rescinds the full FY 2025 appropriation for grants to nonprofits that prepare lawful permanent residents for naturalization. DHS has already paused the program and canceled prior-year awards.
$10 million · Commerce Minority Business Development Agency
R26-7. Rescinds $10 million of MBDA's $50 million FY 2026 appropriation, citing a 2024 federal court ruling on the agency's eligibility presumption.
$8.7 million · Treasury Tropical Forest and Coral Reef Conservation
R26-6. Rescinds $9 million of $20 million appropriated in FY 2023 for debt-for-nature agreements with partner governments.
$5.1 million · HHS Office of Minority Health
R26-11. Rescinds $5 million from HHS General Departmental Management, targeting Office of Minority Health grants the justification describes as inconsistent with the President's executive orders on DEI.
Figures are rounded in the justifications and exact in the account tables; the exact amounts sum to $809.5 million, which the letter reports as $810 million. The R26-5 justification states the rescission "does not impact CRS" because the office no longer exists as a standalone entity.
The mechanism
How a pocket rescission works, and why it is contested.
The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 lets a President propose canceling appropriated funds and withhold them for up to 45 days of continuous session while Congress considers the request. If Congress does not pass a rescission bill in that window, the funds must be made available for obligation.
A pocket rescission uses the calendar against that safeguard. If the 45-day window opens close enough to the end of a fiscal year that the funds expire before the window closes, the withheld money lapses on its own. Congress never has to vote, and the President never has to release the funds. GAO concluded in a 2018 legal opinion, and has restated since, that this use of the withholding period is not permitted by the Act. The Office of Management and Budget takes the opposite view and describes the tactic as exercising authorities the statute provides.
This is the second time the tactic has been used in the modern era. In late August 2025, the President transmitted a $4.9 billion pocket rescission of foreign assistance. Grantees sued, a district court ordered the funds obligated, and in September 2025 the Supreme Court stayed that order on its emergency docket, allowing roughly $4 billion to remain withheld through the September 30 expiration. The Court did not decide whether pocket rescissions are lawful. Before 2025, the last comparable use was in 1977.
Reaction to the September 2026 package has crossed party lines. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins said GAO has determined that pocket rescissions violate the Act, called the package "a clear violation of the law," and said OMB "intentionally withheld these funds for months" without notifying Congress. Senator Jeff Merkley called it "an illegal line item veto." House Appropriations Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro said the Administration had been "unlawfully impounding funds all year." The House had already left Washington for the midterm elections when the letter arrived. Congress has enacted a continuing resolution funding the government through December 11, 2026, so the government itself does not shut down on September 30, but that resolution does not restore money that lapses under this package.
For Afghan allies The ORR money in this package is fiscal year 2024 money that was available for two years. It was appropriated in March 2024, when Afghan arrivals under Enduring Welcome were still running, and it has been available to spend on their resettlement ever since. It expires on September 30, 2026, five days after the package was sent.
The number that matters
One account carries seventy percent of the package.
Of the $810 million proposed for cancellation, $567 million comes from a single line, HHS Refugee and Entrant Assistance. It is the federal government's only dedicated funding stream for the first months of life in the United States for refugees, asylees, Cuban and Haitian entrants, victims of trafficking, SIV holders, and Afghan and Ukrainian humanitarian parolees.
In May 2025, ORR cut the eligibility period for Refugee Cash Assistance and Refugee Medical Assistance from 12 months to 4 months, citing "a significant budget shortfall" and a 35 percent decrease in congressional funding. Sixteen months later, the same account is described in this package as "overfunded."
National impact
What this means across the country.
The Refugee and Entrant Assistance account funds a small number of programs that nearly every eligible newcomer touches in their first year: Refugee Cash Assistance and Refugee Medical Assistance for households that do not qualify for TANF or Medicaid, Refugee Support Services for employment, English, and case management, the Matching Grant program for rapid self-sufficiency, and the care of unaccompanied children in ORR custody.
The Administration's stated reason for the cut is that arrivals have fallen sharply since January 2025 under Executive Orders 14163 and 14165, so the account holds more money than the caseload requires. Arrivals have in fact fallen. Refugee admissions were suspended on January 27, 2025, and the FY 2026 admissions ceiling was set at 7,500, the lowest in the program's history. The people already here are a different story. ORR eligibility runs from the date a person arrives or is granted status, and the program has spent 2025 and 2026 serving the large cohorts who arrived in fiscal years 2022 through 2024, many of whom are still inside their benefit windows or waiting on services that were cut back.
The other items reach beyond resettlement. Housing counseling grants reach on the order of a million households a year, most of them citizens, on rent, foreclosure prevention, and first-time home purchase. AHRQ produces the health services research that hospitals and insurers use to measure quality. The Citizenship and Integration grants funded free naturalization classes and legal help for lawful permanent residents preparing to apply. The Community Relations Service, for six decades, was the office cities called after a hate crime or a police shooting. Several of these programs, including the Citizenship and Integration grants and the Community Relations Service, were already paused or eliminated administratively during 2025 and 2026; the rescission package makes the funding loss permanent.
For Afghan allies Afghans are eligible for ORR benefits by statute, not by policy. Section 602(b)(8) of the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009 gives SIV holders the same resettlement benefits as refugees, and section 2502 of the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act of 2021 extended those benefits to Afghans paroled after July 30, 2021. None of that changes under this package. What changes is the pool of money behind it. Three other items also touch the Afghan community directly: the Citizenship and Integration grants that Afghans who arrived in 2021 and 2022 were beginning to use as they reached naturalization eligibility, the ATD Case Management program that served Afghans placed in removal proceedings, and the Community Relations Service, which historically mediated the kind of local backlash the community experienced after the November 2025 shooting in Washington, DC.
State and local impact
What this means for states, counties, cities, and school districts.
Most ORR money does not stay in Washington. It is allocated by formula to state governments, which run the programs through their own human services, health, and Medicaid agencies and through county offices, local resettlement affiliates, and school districts.
Refugee Cash Assistance and Refugee Medical Assistance are administered by state welfare and Medicaid agencies, which pay benefits and are reimbursed by ORR. Refugee Support Services are allocated to states by formula based on arrivals, and beginning in FY 2026 ORR awards those formula grants only to state governments, ending the practice of funding nonprofit replacement designees in states that withdrew from the program. That stream has historically included set-asides for Refugee School Impact grants to school districts, Refugee Health Promotion grants to state health departments, and Services to Older Refugees; ORR announced the conclusion of Refugee Support Services set-aside awards in Dear Colleague Letter 26-02. County health departments perform domestic medical screenings for new arrivals, typically funded through Refugee Medical Assistance.
When federal budget authority lapses, the practical effect at the state level is one of three things: the state absorbs the cost from its own general fund, the state cuts the service, or the state stops reimbursing the counties and nonprofits that deliver it. Senator Collins' statement that OMB withheld the funds "for months" means states may have been waiting on FY 2024 allocations well before the package was sent. Beyond ORR, the housing counseling item reaches public housing authorities and city housing departments that hold HUD counseling grants, and the Community Relations Service item removes a federal partner that mayors and police chiefs relied on during periods of local tension.
Rescissions cancel budget authority that has not yet been obligated. Money already awarded under an executed grant agreement is not canceled by this package on its own. Whether particular FY 2024 ORR funds had been obligated to states before September 25 is a question each state refugee coordinator will need to confirm directly with ORR.
For Afghan allies The states that received the most Afghan arrivals since 2021, including California, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Arizona, and Pennsylvania, are the states whose formula allocations were sized to that caseload. Their state refugee programs, county health departments, and school districts still carry those families. An Afghan family that arrived through Operation Allies Welcome and is still within its eligibility window will notice this package not as a federal announcement but as a county office that stops taking new RCA applications, a school district that loses its refugee liaison, or an English class that closes. Local officials in those states should expect the questions to come to them first.
Interactive map
Who has a stake, district by district.
No district-level allocation of the rescinded funds exists, so this map does not claim that any district loses a specific amount. The default view shows total impact: which districts host the grantees that run on all seven affected programs and how much federal award money is anchored there. Switch to the Afghan allies view to see where Afghan-born Americans live, the programs they use most, and who represents them.
What the numbers are. Total impact counts awards from the seven programs in the package that USAspending tracks by grantee: ORR refugee programs and unaccompanied children, USCIS citizenship grants, HUD housing counseling, HEP/CAMP, MBDA, and ATD case management. Afghan-born residents come from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey 2020-2024 five-year estimates (table B05006), by 119th Congress district, and undercount arrivals since 2021. Award dollars come from USAspending.gov and are anchored to the grantee's address, so a state agency in a capital city shows its whole statewide award in one district. Members and committee assignments are from the unitedstates/congress-legislators project; 2026 ratings are Cook Political Report House ratings as of September 28, 2026. The leverage score is a judgment tool that weights Afghan population most heavily, then anchored dollars and grantees, then appropriations role and competitiveness.
What the numbers are not. No district-level allocation of the rescinded funds exists. Nothing here says a district loses a specific dollar amount from the package. Ten states (AL, CA, FL, LA, MO, NC, OH, TN, TX, UT) redrew their maps for the 2026 election; the boundaries shown are the current 119th Congress lines.
The full district workbook and targeting memo are available from AfghanEvac on request.
Set expectations
What this package does not do.
- It does not change who is eligible for ORR benefits. SIV holders, Afghan parolees, refugees, and asylees remain eligible by statute.
- It does not eliminate the Office of Refugee Resettlement or the Refugee and Entrant Assistance account. FY 2025, FY 2026, and continuing resolution funding for ORR are not part of this package.
- It does not, by itself, cancel grants that were already obligated to states or nonprofits. It cancels unobligated budget authority.
- It does not affect anyone's immigration status, pending USCIS case, SIV application, or work authorization.
- It does not touch the State Department's Reception and Placement program or the Enduring Welcome relocation pipeline, which are funded separately.
- It has not been approved by Congress. No rescission bill has been introduced or voted on. The funds lapse only if they remain withheld through September 30.
- It does not settle the legal question. The Supreme Court's September 2025 order was a stay, not a merits ruling, and GAO's position that pocket rescissions violate the Impoundment Control Act stands.
What to do now
Practical steps by audience.
If you are an Afghan ally already enrolled in benefits
Nothing in this package terminates a benefit you are currently receiving. If a county office or resettlement agency tells you a service is ending, ask them to put the reason in writing and contact your state refugee coordinator.
State refugee coordinators and county agencies
Confirm with ORR, in writing, which FY 2024 allocations to your state were obligated before September 25, 2026. Document every service you will have to reduce if the withheld funds lapse, with the number of households affected. Send that documentation to your congressional delegation before the House returns in November.
Mayors, county executives, and school boards
Identify the local programs that run on ORR pass-through, HUD housing counseling, or CRS support and put a dollar figure on the gap. Congress is more responsive to a specific number from a specific city than to a national total.
Grantees and resettlement agencies
Review your award terms to determine whether your funds were obligated. Consult counsel about the litigation that followed the 2025 pocket rescission and about the remedies available to grantees.
Congressional offices
The Senate remains in session. Appropriators in both parties have said this package is unlawful. The relevant questions are whether Congress will act before September 30, whether it will restore the funding in the final FY 2027 bills, and whether it will amend the Impoundment Control Act to close the end-of-year gap.
AfghanEvac is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. Grantees and individuals with questions about a specific award or benefit should consult qualified counsel or their state refugee coordinator.
Frequently asked questions
Answers to the questions people are asking.
Does this cut Afghan allies' benefits?
Not directly, and not for anyone already enrolled. The package cancels unobligated FY 2024 funding in the account that pays for those benefits. Eligibility rules are set by statute and are unchanged. The risk is to capacity: fewer dollars for states and resettlement agencies to serve new arrivals and families still inside their eligibility windows.
Is the money already gone?
Not yet. As of September 28, 2026, the funds are withheld. If they remain withheld through September 30, they expire. Congress could act in the Senate before then, or grantees could seek a court order, but the House is not scheduled to return before the deadline.
Is this legal?
It is disputed. GAO has concluded that pocket rescissions violate the Impoundment Control Act. OMB disagrees. The Supreme Court allowed the 2025 pocket rescission to take effect without ruling on the legal question. Both the Republican chair and the Democratic ranking members of the appropriations committees have called this package unlawful.
Did Congress vote for this?
No. Congress appropriated this money. The package asks Congress to cancel it, but is timed so that the money lapses before Congress can respond.
Is the refugee account really overfunded?
That is the Administration's characterization. Arrivals have fallen sharply since January 2025. ORR, however, reduced cash and medical assistance from 12 months to 4 months in May 2025 because of what it called a significant budget shortfall, and the Senate Appropriations chair has said the FY 2024 funds were withheld for months before the package was sent. Both facts are on the record.
Does this affect SIV processing or Enduring Welcome?
No. Visa processing and overseas relocation are funded and run through the State Department and are not part of this package.
Does the continuing resolution fix this?
No. The continuing resolution keeps the government open through December 11, 2026 at current levels. It does not restore FY 2024 or FY 2025 balances that lapse under this package.
AfghanEvac's position
Where we stand.
Our position AfghanEvac's position is that the commitments the United States made to its Afghan allies must be honored, and that the resettlement system Congress funded to keep those commitments should not be dismantled by running out the clock. We are committed to helping the public, the press, and state and local officials understand this package accurately.
Go deeper
Read the primary source. Then read what Congress said about it.
The package is 12 pages. The justifications are one paragraph each. Everything in this explainer traces to that document, the Impoundment Control Act, ORR's own policy letters, and the public statements of the appropriations committee leaders.
Related explainers
This explainer is provided for informational purposes and reflects the September 25, 2026 rescission package, the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, ORR policy letters, and public statements as of September 28, 2026. It is not legal advice. AfghanEvac is not a law firm. Grantees, state agencies, and individuals should consult qualified counsel about their own situation. Figures are taken from the package as transmitted; the Administration's characterizations of programs are presented as its own.