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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Trump bypasses Congress to cancel nearly $5 billion in foreign aid
By Arlette Saenz, Phil Mattingly, CNN
Updated:
4:22 PM EDT, Fri August 29, 2025
Source: CNN
has notified Congress he is moving to cancel $4.9 billion in
congressionally approved foreign aid using a rare “pocket
rescission,” drawing criticism from Democrats and at least one top
Republican senator who questioned the legality of the move.
The Office of Management and Budget’s proposal to claw back the
funding this late in the fiscal year sets it up to be canceled if
Congress doesn’t consider the proposal – and for a potential
high-stakes legal battle in the months ahead.
“For the first time in nearly 50 years, the President is using his
authority under the Impoundment Control Act to deploy a pocket
rescission, cancelling $4.9 billion in woke and weaponized foreign aid
money that violates the President’s America First priorities,”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.
The White House push, however, could complicate bipartisan efforts to
avert a government shutdown. Congress will need to approve new funding
by September 30 or risk shutting down large parts of the federal
government. Democrats have warned pocket rescissions could make those
negotiations more difficult.
“It is all illegal,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the
House Appropriations Committee, told CNN on Friday morning. “He
continues to want to steal money that has been appropriated. We
appropriated this money. They are just in such violation of the law.”
The Connecticut congresswoman made clear that Democrats would be
seeking more limits on Trump’s power as part of the upcoming funding
negotiation with Republicans: “We have to push for guardrails.”
OMB Director Russell Vought has repeatedly said the so-called pocket
rescission was on the table, despite significant dispute over the
legality of a tool that hasn’t been utilized in nearly five decades.
Vought, who also served in his current role in Trump’s first term,
returned to OMB with an expansive view of the president’s authority
and a granular understanding of the tools he could utilize in pursuit
of Trump’s agenda.
Many of his efforts explicitly target the congressional power of the
purse and have been called illegal by Democrats and the Government
Accountability Office. Some Republicans, while less willing to
challenge the actions publicly, have also quietly bristled at the
aggressive encroachment on their long-standing prerogatives.
Democratic lawmakers and the Republican chair of the Senate
Appropriations Committee were swift to criticize the move, saying
it’s against the law.
“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,” said Maine Sen. Susan Collins, the top Senate
appropriator. “Any effort to rescind appropriated funds without
congressional approval is a clear violation of the law.”
Collins specifically pointed to a Government Accountability Office
decision saying are illegal.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also condemned it, saying the
“announcement of the Administration’s plan to advance an unlawful
‘pocket rescission’ package is further proof President Trump and
Congressional Republicans are hellbent on rejecting bipartisanship and
‘going it alone’ this fall.”
With the government funding deadline looming, a White House official
signaled Friday that the administration prefers a “clean” stopgap
funding measure, known as a continuing resolution, “of some length”
and believes Democrats will shoulder the blame if they oppose it.
“It’s very hard for me to believe that they are going to oppose a
clean CR that would cause them to be responsible for a government
shutdown,” the official said on a call with reporters Friday. “The
people that are asking for more than the clean CR are normally the ones
that absorb the blame within this town for a shutdown occurring.”
The White House official told reporters the administration is on
“firm legal ground” with the pocket rescission, pointing to its
interpretation of a past GAO finding on the Impoundment Control Act,
and would withstand legal challenges.
The president notified lawmakers of his decision in a letter Thursday,
saying he would cancel $4.9 billion from Department of State and United
States Agency of International Development and international assistance
programs.
That includes $3.2 billion from USAID development assistance programs,
$393 million from State Department peacekeeping activities, $322
million from the State Department’s Democracy Fund, and more than
$444 million in other peacekeeping aid, according to the letter, which
was included in a related lawsuit.
Trump’s rescission proposal is his second effort to cut down funding
that has already been approved by Congress. The notification on
Thursday night triggers an automatic 45-day pause in the targeted
funding for lawmakers to act on the proposal.
If legislation enacting the proposed cuts does not pass within that
window, the funding automatically resumes. The current proposal was
sent within 45 days of the end of the fiscal year, which would
essentially cancel the funding outright without congressional action.
The last president to use a pocket rescission was President Jimmy
Carter in 1977.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
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