Trump bypasses Congress to cut US$5 billion in foreign aid, using tool not seen in 50 years
The last time a president used the tool was in 1977, and if standardised by the White House, it could bypass Congress on key spending choices.
US President Donald Trump has moved to unilaterally cancel US$4.9 billion in federal funding authorised by Congress, escalating the fight over who controls the nation’s spending.
In a letter posted online late on Thursday, Trump told House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson that he plans to withhold funding for 15 international programmes.
The US Constitution grants funding power to Congress, which every year has to pass legislation to fund government operations. The White House must secure Congress’ approval if it does not want to spend that money. Congress did this in July when it cancelled US$9 billion in foreign aid and public media funding.
The latest move – known as a “pocket rescission” – bypasses Congress entirely. Trump budget director Russell Vought has argued that Trump can withhold funds for 45 days, which would run out the clock until it expires at the end of the financial year on September 30.
The last pocket rescission was in 1977 by then-President Jimmy Carter, and the Trump administration argues that it’s a legally permissible tool. But such a move, if standardised by the White House, could effectively bypass Congress on key spending choices and potentially wrest some control over spending from the House and the Senate.
According to a court document filed on Friday, the money at issue was earmarked for foreign aid, United Nations peacekeeping operations, and democracy-promotion efforts overseas. Most of that had been handled by the US Agency for International Development, which Trump’s administration has largely dismantled. Democrats say the administration had frozen more than US$425 billion in funding overall.