Trump uses pocket rescission to withhold $4.9B in foreign aid

President Donald Trump on Thursday notified House Speaker Mike Johnson that he will not spend roughly 4.9 billion in congressionally approved foreign aid and peacekeeping funds, using a rarely invoked procedure known as a pocket rescission to withhold the money as the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30. The White House Office of Management and Budget posted the president's letter on X early Friday, saying the cuts target programs run by the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

A pocket rescission is submitted so late in the fiscal year that Congress has little opportunity to act within the 45 legislative days set by the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. The administration argues the maneuver is lawful and has flagged specific allocations it calls wasteful, including roughly 3.2 billion in USAID development assistance, 322 million from a USAID-State Department Democracy Fund, about 521 million in State Department contributions to international organizations and roughly 838 million earmarked for U.N. peacekeeping and related activities. OMB officials also cited smaller line items such as climate resilience funding for Honduras and democracy programs in the...