The Trump administration is turning to the Supreme Court in a high-stakes battle over billions of dollars in foreign aid. On Monday, government lawyers asked the justices for an emergency
order to keep nearly $5 billion in congressionally approved aid frozen — money that President Trump announced last month he would not release.
At the center of the fight is Trump’s decision to use a little-known budget maneuver called a “pocket rescission.” It hasn’t been used by a president in about half a century. The idea is simple: if the White House waits until late in the budget year to send Congress a request to cancel spending, lawmakers can’t act within the required 45-day window, and the money simply goes unspent.
But a federal judge ruled last week that the move was likely illegal. Judge Amir Ali made it clear that only Congress — not the president — can ultimately decide to cancel funding it already approved.
Trump, however, insists he has the authority. In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson on Aug. 28, he said he would not release $4.9 billion in foreign aid, effectively shrinking the budget without congressional approval.
The administration appealed, but a panel of appellate judges refused to pause the lower court’s decision. That’s what sent the case to the Supreme Court, where the justices are now being asked to step in.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department has said another $6.5 billion that was initially frozen will be spent before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.
The legal fight has been dragging on for months, with nonprofits arguing that the freeze violates federal law and is already disrupting urgent humanitarian programs abroad. Photo by Joe Ravi, Wikimedia commons.
