Trump had stopped foreign aid funds by use of āpocket rescissionā; aid groups now have until Friday to respond
Chris Stein at The Guardian:
TheĀ US supreme courtĀ on Tuesday temporarily halted a lower courtās order that theĀ Trump administrationĀ spend nearly $5bn in congressionally appropriated foreign aid money that it is seeking to cancel. The order from the conservative chief justice, John Roberts, comes amid legal wrangling overĀ Donald Trumpās moves to aggressively downsize US support of global development and emergency response, which has resulted in the dismantling of USAID. Late last month, Trump informed the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, that he would not spendĀ $4.9bn in foreign aidĀ that Congress had previously approved, decrying it as āwoke, weaponized and wasteful spendingā. The money was to go to United Nations organizations and peacekeeping operations, as well as development assistance and democracy-promotion projects. The move was a āpocket rescissionā, when a president announces they will not spend money shortly before the 30 September end of the federal fiscal year, preventing Congress from acting on his request within the 45-day timeframe and leaving the money unspent. It was the first time in 50 years such a rescission had been made.
The radical right-wing MAGA Majority on SCOTUS put a temporary hold on a lower court ruling, giving a path for Donald Trump to cancel $5BN worth of money for foreign aid.
