The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court for an emergency order to keep billions of dollars in foreign aid on hold, seeking to preserve President Trump’s decision to block spending that Congress had already approved.
At issue is nearly $5 billion in congressionally approved aid that President Trump announced last month he would not spend, invoking a rarely used budget maneuver not exercised by a president in roughly 50 years. On August 28, Trump informed House Speaker Mike Johnson that he would withhold $4.9 billion, effectively cutting the budget without congressional approval.
The administration relied on what is known as a pocket rescission, a tactic in which a president submits a request near the end of a budget year to cancel approved spending. Because the request arrives too late for Congress to act within the required 45-day window, the funds remain unspent.
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali ruled last week that the move was “likely illegal,” writing that the law is “explicit that it is congressional action — not the President’s transmission of a special message — that triggers rescission of the earlier appropriations.” A panel of appellate judges declined to block his ruling.
