Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, said in an emailed statement that the Trump administration was already “illegally impounding additional funds,” as withholding money has “always been illegal without explicit Congressional approval.”

The White House has sent its long-awaited spending cuts request to Congress as it seeks to formalize a slew of DOGE slashes to federal funding.

The so-called rescissions package seeks to claw back $9.4 billion lawmakers had authorized the executive branch to spend, and it would require only GOP votes to pass.