Trump Moves to Cut $4.9 Billion in Foreign Aid Without Congress’s Approval
White House turns to untested ‘pocket rescissions’ to bypass lawmakers
Aug. 29, 2025
The Trump administration is trying to rescind $4.9 billion in foreign aid without congressional approval.
The White House cities the Impoundment Control Act, but some say the move illegally circumvents Congress.
The move comes a month before the deadline for a bipartisan agreement to fund the government, raising shutdown concerns.
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- The Trump administration is trying to rescind $4.9 billion in foreign aid without congressional approval.View more
WASHINGTON—The Trump administration said it is using an untested strategy to rescind $4.9 billion in foreign aid without congressional approval, sparking a backlash on Capitol Hill and setting the stage for a messy and potentially market-rattling month ahead of a deadline for avoiding a government shutdown.
In a letter to congressional leadership, President Trump said that he wanted to rescind funds from the State Department, international-assistance programs and the U.S. Agency for International Development—using his authority under the Impoundment Control Act, which gives the White House power to pause spending only in limited circumstances.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine—the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee who has sparred regularly with the White House on spending—said the move by the White House is an apparent attempt to bypass Congress. She said “any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law.”
Democrats also decried the move, which comes just a month ahead of a deadline to reach a deal funding the government past Sept. 30, when current spending expires. Democrats have warned Republicans that any move by Trump to cut funding without lawmakers’ approval would undercut bipartisan talks, a stance that raises the specter of a government shutdown. A new spending bill would require some Democratic support, given the 60-vote threshold in the Senate, which the GOP narrowly controls.
Trump is pursuing an “unlawful gambit to circumvent the Congress all together with a so-called ‘pocket-rescission’ package,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said in a statement. “If Republicans are insistent on going it alone, Democrats won’t be party to their destruction.”
The move by the White House tests the usual understanding of the Impoundment Control Act. Under the law, the White House can pause spending for 45 days while it asks Congress to pass a measure rescinding the money. If Congress hasn’t acted after 45 days, the money must be released. White House budget chief Russ Vought has long indicated that he wants to use what he has dubbed a “pocket rescission,” under which the request to Congress comes so late in a fiscal year that the authority to spend the money expires, which he maintains would automatically cancel the funds. The fiscal year ends Sept. 30.
The Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan government agency within the legislative branch, in 1975 had said that such a move was possible and recommended that Congress close the loophole. In 2018, the GAO said in a letter that Congress and court decisions combined had closed the loophole, essentially slamming the door on the tactic the White House is employing. The White House’s budget chief has argued that the Impoundment Control Act itself violates the U.S. Constitution.
The administration is facing dozens of lawsuits over its efforts to freeze or claw back spending, in foreign aid and a variety of other programs. The matter is ultimately expected to end up at the Supreme Court.
Vought has made clear he believes that congressional appropriations are a ceiling subject to adjustment by the White House, rather than a set number. He has testified to Congress that the Impoundment Control Act violates the Constitution.
Back in July, the GOP-controlled Congress canceled $9 billion in federal spending for foreign aid and public broadcasting, following through on Trump’s efforts to defund the programs despite some misgivings among Republican lawmakers and staunch opposition from Democrats.
The cuts marked the first time a White House has accomplished clawbacks in more than a quarter-century, and White House officials made clear that they would pursue additional reductions, with or without Congress’s approval.
Write to Siobhan Hughes at Siobhan.hughes@wsj.com