FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump gestures after signing the sweeping spending and tax legislation, known as the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 4, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) was once among the most popular Republicans in New England, enjoying landslide reelection victories during the 2000s and 2010s and picking up a lot of support from Democrats, moderates, centrists and independents. But Donald Trump's presidencies have taken a toll on her popularity, and Collins was recently booed during a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Nonetheless, Collins stands up to Trump at times. She voted "no" on his "big, beautiful bill," and on Thursday night, August 28, Collins called out one of the president's recent moves as unlawful.
Trump is trying to take back almost $5 billion that was approved for foreign aid, using a method known as "pocket rescission.”
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The Daily Beast's Sarah Ewall-Wice reports, "The rare move is when the president asks Congress to cancel funds so close to the end of the fiscal year that the funding expires before it can be used, whether Congress acts or not."
Collins, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said, in a statement, "Given that this package was sent to Congress very close to the end of the fiscal year when the funds are scheduled to expire, this is an apparent attempt to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval. Any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law."
Ewall-Wice notes, "Trump attempted so-called 'pocket recessions' during his first term but ultimately backed down. The last time it was used was about fifty years ago.
The senator pointed out that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) had already found such rescissions to be illegal and argued that only Congress has the power of the purse, but Trump's budget office pushed back."
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Read the full Daily Beast article at this link (subscription required).