Trump Requests 50 Billion Dollar Foreign Aid Cut, Congress Faces Deadline

President Donald Trump has requested that Congress return nearly 50 billion dollars in approved foreign aid funds. This proposal is strategically timed to coincide with the end of the fiscal year, setting a deadline for Congress to act by the end of September or face automatic budget cuts.

This move not only challenges Congress's spending authority but also intensifies the ongoing debate over government funding, as current funding authorization is set to expire on September 30. Democrats have made it clear that they will only support measures to "keep the government running" if they receive a written assurance from Trump that he will use the funds as approved by Congress.

The proposed cuts include 32 billion dollars from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), 3.22 billion dollars from the Democracy Fund administered by the State Department, 5.21 billion dollars in contributions to international organizations, 3.93 billion dollars for peacekeeping operations, and an additional 4.45 billion dollars for peacekeeping assistance.

Trump formally notified Congress of this plan, triggering a legal provision that allows the President to freeze these funds while awaiting Congress's response. This strategy, known as a "pocket rescission," is rarely used and, if successful, could alter the balance of spending power within the federal government.

This dispute has caused a rift within Trump's own party, with notable disagreements in the Senate. Republican senators from South Dakota and Maine have expressed concerns that this move could disrupt the long-standing consensus on financial authority between the executive and legislative branches.

Senator Susan Collins, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, stated that "any attempt to cancel already appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law."

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy from Connecticut took to the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to criticize Trump's actions, suggesting that they indicate an intent to provoke a government shutdown. Murphy further stated that any budget agreement with the Republican Party now appears meaningless, as Trump no longer pretends to follow the law.

A 1974 law requires the President to execute congressionally approved funding, but the White House is attempting to exploit a "gray area" in this law to achieve its goals. The Impoundment Control Act allows the President to temporarily freeze funds for 45 days, during which Congress reviews whether to cancel the allocation. This type of "rescission" was more common in the past, and in July, Trump used this method to push Congress to cancel 90 billion dollars in spending, including public broadcasting, foreign aid, and global health projects.

However, the White House argues that if a rescission request is made in the final weeks of the fiscal year, the funds may expire before the 45-day freeze period ends, effectively making the cuts permanent. This strategy is likened to a "pocket veto," where the President allows a bill to expire by not signing it during a congressional recess. This idea was first proposed by the White House during Trump's first term and has been revived as the administration seeks ways to reduce spending without waiting for the appropriations process.

Critics argue that this approach may overstep legal boundaries. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has warned that using the end-of-year deadline for such actions "violates the spirit of the law," although the GAO's opinion is not legally binding and has previously allowed similar actions by President Gerald Ford in 1976. Constitutional scholars note that "pocket rescissions" are essentially a form of "line-item veto," where the President unilaterally decides which parts of a spending bill to execute, a power the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional in 1998.