Washington Post: Trump intends to use a rare legal tool known as revocation of the pocket to cancel nearly $5 billion in foreign aid
In an exceptional move not recorded in the United States since 1977, the Washington Post reported that President Donald Trump intends to use a rare legal tool known as a “pocket Veto” to cancel nearly $5 billion in foreign aid and peacekeeping allocations approved by Congress.
According to the Washington Post, Trump has formally notified Congress of his desire to cancel these funds, the latest in a series of his administration’s efforts to reduce what it describes as unnecessary spending on international programs.
The pocket cancellation mechanism is a controversial legal maneuver, typically used late in the fiscal year (which ends on September 30), that allows the president to withhold funding for specific items without congressional approval, provided they are submitted after the end of the period specified for reviewing these requests.
Targeted funds include:
- 3.2$ billion in development assistance through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID),
- 3.2$ million from the USAID/State Department Democracy Fund,
- 521$ million in state contributions to international organizations,
- Approximately $838 million is allocated for peacekeeping operations, of which $393 million is allocated for UN activities and $445 million is under a separate heading.
These funds had previously been frozen by a decision from the White House Office of Management and Budget, before becoming embroiled in a legal dispute filed by the Global Health Council to protest the freeze.
However, a ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Washington, DC, Circuit Court of Appeals, issued last Thursday, overturned the temporary ban, opening the door for Trump to implement his move.
The Trump administration has indicated that many of the projects covered by the funding are considered excessive or controversial, including:
- $24.6 million for climate adaptation programs in Honduras,
- 2.7$ million to a South African organization accused of publishing racist content,
- 3.9$ million to support democracy among the LGBT community in the Western Balkans, and $1.5 million to market artwork by Ukrainian women.
The cuts also include support for peacekeeping missions in hotspots such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the United States is recently involved in mediation efforts with Rwanda, and the Central African Republic, where the UN mission is accused of bias toward Russia’s commercial interests.
Among the canceled items are $11 million for the purchase of armored personnel carriers for Uruguayan forces, $4 million for a training center in Zambia, and $3 million for military barracks in Kazakhstan.
Financial support for the Multinational Observer Mission on the Egyptian-Israeli border is excluded from the decision.
There is widespread legal controversy surrounding the legality of the pocket revocation mechanism.
The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) believes that this practice violates the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which requires the president to follow formal procedures, including giving Congress 45 days to decide on revocation requests.
The Trump administration is relying on precedents from the presidencies of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, where the CAO allowed some appropriations to expire without objection.
However, the legal situation today is more complicated, especially after an appeals court ruled that individuals don’t have standing to sue under this law, opening the door for the CAO itself to take legal action against the decision.
