White House move to cancel $4.9B foreign aid with 'pocket rescission' blasted as illegal

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle panned the White House s move to cancel billions in foreign aid funding as illegal and warned that it could have dire consequences on the fast-approaching deadline to fund the governing body The White House on Thursday notified Congress of the administration s intent to cancel billion in foreign aid funding through a pocket rescission Last night President Trump CANCELED billion in America Last foreign aid using a pocket rescission the Office of Management and Budget OMB announced on X President Donald Trump will unfailingly put AMERICA FIRST 'BAIT AND SWITCH' SCHUMER WARNS OF BITTER FUNDING FIGHT OVER GOP CUTS PLANThe pocket rescissions package obtained by Fox News Digital includes cuts to a variety of foreign aid programs over several fiscal years that the administration argued did not comport with Trump s agenda Included are roughly million in cuts to Contributions to International Organizations account over million in cuts to the Contributions for International Peacekeeping Pursuits account million from the Democracy Fund million from the Peacekeeping Operations account and over billion from Growth Assistance The rescissions process allows the president to make a request to Congress to cancel already approved funding within a -day period Lawmakers successfully went through that exercise earlier this year when they approved billion to be slashed from society broadcasting and foreign aid TRUMP SIGNS B RESCISSIONS PACKAGE INTO LAW REVOKING FUNDING FOR FOREIGN AID NPRHowever a pocket rescission is designed to skirt that -day window by coming so close to the end of a fiscal year that lawmakers wouldn t have time to weigh in And the White House s maneuver is already giving Senate Republicans and Democrats heartburn Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins R-Maine stated in a declaration that the move was an apparent attempt to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval She also argued that the Leadership Accountability Office detected that under the Impoundment Control Act the law that governs rescissions this style of pocket rescission was illegal Any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law she mentioned Instead of this attempt to undermine the law the appropriate way is to identify procedures to reduce excessive spending through the bipartisan annual appropriations process Collins continued Congress approves rescissions regularly as part of this process Fox News Digital reached out to the OMB and the White House for comment but did not this instant hear back TRUMP SENDS BILLION DOGE CUTS PROPOSAL TO CONGRESS TARGETING NPR PBSLawmakers will also have to grapple with how the pocket rescissions will affect negotiations to keep the cabinet open Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer D-N Y already warned that further attempts to claw back congressionally approved funding would be a bridge too far for Democrats Prior to 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 imploring both to meet with them to discuss the looming Sept deadline In the letter they specifically requested if more rescissions were coming Now Schumer charged that the unlawful pocket rescission package is further proof President Trump and Congressional Republicans are hellbent on rejecting bipartisanship and going it alone this fall As the country stares down next month s executive funding deadline on September th it is clear neither President Trump nor Congressional Republicans have any plan to avoid a painful and entirely unnecessary shutdown Schumer explained in a announcement In fact it seems Republicans are eager to inflict further pain on the American people raising their strength care costs compromising essential services and further damaging our national assurance he continued