WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump on Aug. 28 proposed the cancellation of $4.9 billion in appropriated funds for foreign aid spending, using a maneuver that could effectively bypass the congressional approval process normally required to rescind the funds.
The funds were allocated to the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development—which is in the process of being closed by the Trump administration—during the Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations process.
Under the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, the government must make a rescission request to Congress, which then has 45 days to approve the cancellation of appropriated funds. A “pocket rescission,” however, refers to such requests made within 45 days of the end of the fiscal year, which is Sept. 30. In these cases, the funds are withheld during the 45-day congressional review period, and if Congress doesn’t act before the fiscal year ends, the funds expire.
“Last night, President Trump cancelled $4.9 billion in America Last foreign aid using a pocket rescission,” the Office of Management and Budget, a cabinet-level agency in the Executive Office of the President, wrote on X on Aug. 29.
Pocket rescissions are uncommon, and the last one attempted was in 1983, when President Ronald Reagan sought to cut $2 million appropriated to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Trump, during his second term, has successfully requested some rescissions from Congress. A rescissions bill canceling $9.4 billion in funding for foreign aid and public broadcasters was approved by Congress in July.
Rescission requests, when presented to Congress, may be enacted through legislation with simple majorities voting in favor in both houses, meaning that the minority has no leverage to stop or alter the process. Democrats in Congress, who are the minority in both houses, have thus protested against Trump’s rescissions, but often to no avail.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in an Aug. 29 statement that the announcement of the administration’s rescissions plan “is further proof” that Trump and congressional Republicans are set on “rejecting bipartisanship and ‘going it alone’ this fall.”
The question of federal funding for initiatives is set to take center stage in national politics when Congress reconvenes on Sept. 2, when it will have just 28 days to approve 12 spending or “appropriations” bills to fund the government for fiscal year 2026. Every year since 1997, Congress has failed to pass all the bills in time, necessitating a “continuing resolution” to prolong spending at the previous year’s levels while negotiations on permanent bills continue.
It is unclear whether funds subject to a “pocket rescission” would be reactivated by a continuing resolution. The Office of Management and Budget did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the matter.
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