US President Donald Trump intends to cancel $5 billion in foreign aid, resorting to the rare mechanism of "pocket rescission," with a particular focus on $1.5 million allocated for advertising paintings by Ukrainian women, The New York Post reports, according to UNN.
Details
As the publication learned, Trump is going to cancel almost $5 billion in Congress-approved spending on foreign aid and peacekeeping operations within the framework of a rare "pocket rescission," resorting to a maneuver that causes legal debate and has not been used for 48 years.
On Thursday evening, Trump informed Congress of his request to cancel the funds frozen during the court proceedings earlier that day.
A "pocket rescission" is a request submitted to Congress so late in the fiscal year, which ends on September 30, that it is executed regardless of Congressional action.
The returned funds include $3.2 billion allocated by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), $322 million from the USAID Democracy Fund and the State Department, $521 million allocated by the State Department to international organizations, $393 million allocated by the State Department for peacekeeping activities, and $445 million in separately provided peacekeeping assistance.
The expenditures were intended for a wide range of non-profit organizations and foreign governments and were suspended earlier this year by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and then put on hold due to a subsequent lawsuit filed by the Global Health Council.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday lifted the injunction in the case, opening the door for Trump to make the first attempt at unilateral rescission since 1977.
The Trump administration highlighted spending items that are allegedly wasteful, such as $24.6 million for "climate change resilience" in Honduras, $2.7 million for the South African Democracy Works Foundation, which published provocative racist articles, including "The Problem with White People," and $3.9 million for promoting democracy among LGBT people in the Western Balkans.
"Other highlighted funds include $1.5 million for advertising paintings by Ukrainian women," the publication writes.