White House to slash $4.9 billion in foreign aid identified as ‘wasteful’
President Trump is slashing $4.9 billion in congressionally approved foreign aid funding through a rarely used budgetary maneuver known as pocket rescissions, an administration official said.
The cuts, which Congress can’t stop, also add tension to the spending debate ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline to approve fiscal 2026 funding and avoid a government shutdown.
Among the funds the White House is pulling back are $3.2 billion in U.S. Agency for International Development development assistance, $322 million from the USAID-State Development Democracy Fund, $521 million in State Department funds to support peacekeeping activities and $445 million in peacekeeping aid.
The official described the funding as “wasteful,” ticking off a flurry of left-leaning programs supported by the funds, such as $24.6 million for “climate resilience” in Honduras, $22 million for a “gender empowerment hub,” and $1.5 million to promote the paintings of Ukrainian women.
The official said there is no way for the administration to “redirect the funds towards fulfilling the president’s agenda.”
Under the pocket rescissions process, a president can eliminate funding lawfully approved by Congress if it comes so late in the fiscal year that it will be next to impossible for Congress to stop it.
The official said that since the rescissions were being sent to Congress past the 45-day deadline, the cuts “will automatically sunset at the end of the fiscal year.”
“These savings will automatically accrue to taxpayers at the end of the year,” the official said.
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