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Foreign Aid
The Supreme Court has extended an order that allows President Donald Trump's administration to keep frozen nearly USD 5 billion in foreign aid, handing him another victory in a dispute over presidential power. The court on Friday acted on the Republican administration's emergency appeal in a case involving billions of dollars in congressionally approved aid. Trump said last month that he would not spend the money, invoking disputed authority that was last used by a president roughly 50 years ago. The Justice Department sought the high court's intervention after US District Judge Amir Ali ruled that Trump's action was likely illegal and that Congress would have to approve the decision to withhold the funding. The federal appeals court in Washington declined to put Ali's ruling on hold, but Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily blocked it on September 9. The full court indefinitely extended Roberts' order. The court has previously cleared the way for the Trump administration to stri
President Donald Trump has told House Speaker Mike Johnson that he won't be spending USD 4.9 billion in congressionally approved foreign aid, effectively cutting the budget without going through the legislative branch. Trump, who sent a letter to Johnson, R-La., on Thursday, is using what's known as a pocket rescission for the first time in nearly 50 years. That's when a president submits a request to Congress not to spend approved funds toward the end of the fiscal year, so that Congress cannot act on the request in the 45-day timeframe, and the money goes unspent as a result. The fiscal year draws to a close at the end of September. The last pocket recession was in 1977 under then-President Jimmy Carter, and the Trump administration argues that it's a legally permissible tool. But such a move, if standardised by the White House, could effectively bypass Congress on key spending choices and potentially wrest some control over spending from the House and the Senate. The letter ...
President Donald Trump's request to cancel about USD 9 billion in foreign aid and public broadcasting spending is nearing passage in the Senate, an action that would have a tiny impact on the nation's rising debt but could have major ramifications for future spending fights in Congress. Spending bills generally need bipartisan support to advance in the Senate. But the legislation before the Senate gives Republicans the opportunity to undo some of the previously approved spending without Democratic support. The measure contains Trump's efforts to target the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and roll back some of the humanitarian and economic assistance the US provides internationally. The Trump administration is promising more rescission packages to come if the first effort is successful. Democrats say doing so upends a legislative process that typically requires lawmakers from both parties to work together to fund the nation's priorities. The move to claw back a sliver of federal
The State Department said Tuesday that it had rolled back an undisclosed number of sweeping funding cuts to UN World Food Program emergency projects in 14 impoverished countries, saying it had terminated some of the contracts for life-saving aid by mistake. There were a few programs that were cut in other countries that were not meant to be cut, that have been rolled back and put into place, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters. Bruce said she had no immediate information on which countries had U.S. funding for food aid restored after a dayslong cutoff. She gave no explanation for how some contracts came to be canceled in error. The World Food Program didn't immediately respond to messages seeking comment. The Associated Press reported Monday that the Trump administration cut funding to WFP emergency programs helping keep millions alive in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and 11 other countries, many of them struggling with conflict, according to the agency and official
US-funded aid programs around the world have begun firing staff and shutting down or preparing to stop their operations, as the Trump administration's unprecedented freeze on almost all foreign assistance brings their work to a sudden halt. Allies including Ukraine also are struggling to save part of their security funding from the 90-day freeze, ordered by President Donald Trump last week. Trump also just paused federal grants and loans inside the United States. The Trump administration says it ordered the foreign aid pause to give it time to decide which of the thousands of humanitarian, development and security programs will keep getting money from the US. Meantime, US officials ordered the programs to stop spending immediately. Only emergency food programs and military aid to allies Israel and Egypt were exempt. The freeze means schools in Liberia are prepared this week to fire cooks who provide children with lunch. US efforts to aid American businesses abroad and to counter ..