Historic Move: Trump Halts $5B in Foreign Assistance Through Pocket Rescission

Dmitri Bolt / Townhall Tipsheet 

 

President Trump is moving to block $5 billion in foreign aid, using a method that hasn't been tried since 1977, known as a "pocket recission," according to an exclusive report by The New York Post.

 

On Thursday night, he asked Congress to cancel those federal funds, which had been released from a court case in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals earlier that same day. This type of request is called a “pocket rescission.” A pocket rescission occurs when the president submits a request so late in the fiscal year (which ends on September 30) that the money effectively gets canceled, regardless of the circumstances. Even if Congress does not approve the request, the funds will expire before they can be spent. 

The rescission targets several major areas of foreign assistance. It blocks $3.2 billion designated for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), along with $322 million from the joint USAID–State Department Democracy Fund. It also eliminates $521 million in State Department contributions to...Read more and see X here.