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PULSE POINTS
❓WHAT HAPPENED: President Donald J. Trump has proposed a $4.9 billion cut to foreign aid funds using a rarely invoked maneuver known as a pocket rescission.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: President Trump, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
📍WHEN & WHERE: The proposal was announced in late August 2025, with the fiscal year ending on September 30, 2025.
💬KEY QUOTE: “For the first time in nearly 50 years, the President is using his authority under the Impoundment Control Act to deploy a pocket rescission, cancelling $4.9 billion in woke and weaponized foreign aid money that violates the President’s America First priorities,” said an OMB spokesman.
🎯IMPACT: The pocket rescission would defund diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), climate change, and LGBT propaganda abroad, but will face resistance from Democrats and Republicans-in-name-only on Capitol Hill.
IN FULL
President Donald J. Trump has moved to cancel $4.9 billion in foreign aid funding previously approved by Congress, using a rarely invoked tactic under the Impoundment Control Act known as a “pocket rescission.” The action, announced just weeks before the end of the fiscal year, blocks the funds from being spent by allowing them to expire on September 30 without a congressional vote.
The targeted funds were allocated to the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and international assistance programs. According to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the move reflects Trump’s commitment to his “America First” agenda.
“For the first time in nearly 50 years, the President is using his authority under the Impoundment Control Act to deploy a pocket rescission, cancelling $4.9 billion in woke and weaponized foreign aid money,” an OMB spokesman said.
The rescinded accounts include USAID’s $3.2 billion Development Assistance Fund, which supported controversial programs on climate change, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and LGBT initiatives, such as $4 million for global LGBT awareness and $2 million for feminist organizing in Africa.
The $322 million Democracy Fund, criticized for promoting “gender responsive governance” and LGBT projects abroad, was also cut. Funding was withdrawn from UNESCO and the World Trade Organization (WTO) due to their globalist agendas and failure to align with U.S. interests.
U.S. contributions to United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations were also slashed, including $393 million for general peacekeeping and $445 million for specific operations, amid concerns over inefficiency, sexual exploitation by peacekeepers, and other abuses. These funds had backed projects including infrastructure for foreign militaries.
The decision has drawn criticism from Democrats and Republicans-in-name-only (RINOs) in the GOP. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, called the move an attempt to sidestep Congress. “Given that this package was sent to Congress very close to the end of the fiscal year when the funds are scheduled to expire, this is an apparent attempt to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval,” Collins said.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said the action undermines bipartisan cooperation. “Reasonable Republicans don’t have to go along with the madness; Republicans don’t have to be a rubber stamp for this carnage,” Schumer complained.
The pocket rescission comes amid a broader overhaul of U.S. foreign aid under Trump. Earlier this year, the administration dismantled USAID’s global development programs, terminating billions in contracts and shifting remaining operations to the State Department. In March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that “tens of billions of USAID contracts” had been cut. In July, Trump signed the Rescissions Act of 2025, eliminating an additional $8.3 billion in foreign assistance.
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