Lawmakers from both parties criticized the White House’s decision to cancel billions in foreign aid funding, calling it illegal and warning it could complicate the fast-approaching government funding deadline.
On Thursday, the White House informed Congress of the administration’s plan to cancel $4.9 billion in foreign aid through a so-called “pocket rescission.”
“Last night, President Trump CANCELED $4.9 billion in America Last foreign aid using a pocket rescission,” the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said on X. “[President Donald Trump] will always put AMERICA FIRST!”
The pocket rescissions package obtained by Fox News Digital details cuts across several foreign aid programs that the administration argued were inconsistent with Trump’s priorities. Among the reductions are roughly $520 million from the Contributions to International Organizations account, over $390 million from the Contributions for International Peacekeeping Activities account, $322 million from the Democracy Fund, $445 million from the Peacekeeping Operations account, and more than $3 billion from Development Assistance.
The rescissions process allows the president to request that Congress cancel previously approved funding within a 45-day period. Earlier this year, lawmakers used that mechanism to slash $9 billion from public broadcasting and foreign aid.
However, a pocket rescission is designed to bypass the 45-day window by occurring so close to the fiscal year’s end that lawmakers have little time to respond. The move has already raised concerns among Senate Republicans and Democrats.
Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, called the maneuver an “apparent attempt to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval.” She noted that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that this type of pocket rescission violates the Impoundment Control Act.
“Any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law,” Collins said. “Instead of this attempt to undermine the law, the appropriate way is to identify ways to reduce excessive spending through the bipartisan, annual appropriations process. Congress approves rescissions regularly as part of this process.”
A White House official defended the pocket rescission, saying its goal is to remove the final remnants of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and expressing confidence that the administration would prevail if challenged in court.
“This will, I’m sure, be something that is litigated in court, and we are well-prepared for those,” the official said. “We’ve been winning these cases in the court system as recently as the last two weeks.”
Lawmakers will also have to consider how the rescissions could impact efforts to keep the government funded. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., warned that further attempts to reverse congressionally approved spending would push Democrats too far.
Before the announcement, Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., urging them to discuss the looming Sept. 30 funding deadline and asking whether additional rescissions were planned.
Now, Schumer says the “unlawful ‘pocket rescission’ package is further proof President Trump and Congressional Republicans are hell-bent on rejecting bipartisanship and ‘going it alone’ this fall.”
“As the country stares down next month’s government funding deadline on September 30th, it is clear neither President Trump nor Congressional Republicans have any plan to avoid a painful and entirely unnecessary shutdown,” Schumer said.
“In fact, it seems Republicans are eager to inflict further pain on the American people, raising their health care costs, compromising essential services and further damaging our national security,” he added.
The administration appears to favor a clean continuing resolution (CR) to extend government funding without adding extra spending, a move intended to attract support from some Republicans who are not fully on board with CRs.
However, officials do not believe the pocket rescission will derail the government funding process.
“We believe this is in no way contributing to the argument put out there by Democrats that this will lead to a government shutdown,” the official said. “Secondly, we don’t believe that this should distract from the appropriations process that is underway.”
