Trump and Funding Cuts

Ava Cai

August 29, 2025

Ever since his election into office, President Trump has been bravely testing the waters with Congress; temperatures have reached a boiling point this Friday, when the president canceled a $4.9 billion plan directed at foreign aid programs by using pocket rescission. 

Pocket rescission is an illegal budgetary maneuvering practice that dates back to the 1970s, involving the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, but hasn’t resurfaced for more than 50 years. It assumes the president asking Congress to cancel funds within 45 days, but applying such a request so closely to the fiscal year that it is nearly impossible for Congress to make a decision within the timeframe. As the fiscal year closes off at the end of September, Congress and lawmakers are accusing Trump of illegally looping around Congress’s “power purse.” The decision to cut this congressionally approved funding was unilateral, as President Trump passed over the legislative component entirely before sending in the 15-page letter to Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday night. 

This executive move played out by President Trump drew unrestful tension from Senator Susan Collins, a Republican of Maine and chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, who stated that the efforts were evident attempts to breach the law under the Impooundment Control Act: “Given that this package was sent to Congress very close to the end of the fiscal year when the funds are scheduled to expire, this is an apparent attempt to rescind appropraited funds without congressional approval.” In addition, Democratic officials are banding together to urge Republicans to repeal President Trump’s attacks on congressional funding; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer spoke in a statement earlier on Friday:  “Today’s announcement of the administration’s plan to advance an unlawful ‘pocket recession’ package is further proof President Trump and congressional Republicans are hellbent on rejecting bipartinsanship and ‘going it alone’ this fall.”

In addition to the billions of dollars cut from Congress, President Trump also plans to revoke hundreds of billions worth of monetary support allotted to the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). This encompasses $393 million toward peacekeeping assignments, including the United Nations, and another $521 million for international organizations. 

Despite backlash, President Trump and the White House have put their foot down and are evidently unwilling to budge. A member from the budget office said, “Congress can choose to vote to rescind or continue the funds — it doesn’t matter,” claiming that the pocket rescission approach is ‘rare but not unprecedented.”