A proposed $4.3 billion in cuts to foreign aid already appropriated by Congress could endanger a budget agreement with the White House, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned the Trump administration in a letter sent on Sunday.
“I request that you work within the Administration to stop this proposed rescission, which GAO [Government Accountability Office] states is illegal, which violates the good faith of our budget negotiations, which important Republicans say is ill-advised, and which overrides Congress’ most fundamental Constitutional power,” Pelosi wrote in the letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Pelosi enclosed a letter from Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham and GOP Rep. Hal Rogers, the former House Appropriations Committee chairman, expressing their own dissatisfaction with the planned cuts to funding for the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development.
She also enclosed a bipartisan letter warning against a new rescission package.
On Friday, top appropriators from both parties warned the administration against the move, saying it could complicate negotiations trying to prevent a government shutdown in the fall, The Hill reported.
“The Trump administration’s continued efforts to illegally withhold funding that Congress has approved subverts critical norms in our democratic process," Committee Chair Nina Lowey said. "We are insisting that the administration spend the appropriated foreign assistance funds, and are working with GAO to make sure the law is followed.”