Trump Wins Fight to Withhold Billions of Dollars in Foreign Aid

The Trump administration can cut potentially billions of dollars in foreign assistance funds approved by Congress for this year, a US appeals court ruled. 

In a 2-1 decision on Wednesday, the appellate panel reversed a Washington federal judge who found that US officials were violating the Constitution’s separation of powers principles by failing to authorize the money to be paid in line with what the legislative branch directed. 

The ruling is a significant win for Trump’s broader effort to withhold funding from programs that have fallen out of favor with his administration, regardless of how Congress exercised its authority over spending. Trump’s critics have assailed what they’ve described as a far-reaching power grab by the executive branch. 

The nonprofits and business that sued could ask all of the active judges on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit to reconsider the three-member panel’s decision.