President Donald Trump reportedly will cut nearly $3 billion in emergency spending that had been included in the 2023 Fiscal Responsibility Act.
Then-President Joe Biden signed the legislation into law in June 2023. The law suspended the limit on federal debt through Jan. 1 of this year and made a number of changes that affected federal spending and revenues.
The legislation included a "side deal," according to Semafor, that allowed for more than $12 billion in 2025 emergency spending.
Trump has decided that roughly $2.9 million, including $2.5 million targeted for foreign aid, of that total is outside the scope of any emergency, the outlet added. Diversity, equity, and inclusion projects also are among the cuts.
The remaining $9.4 billion or so in designated emergency spending that the 2023 law specified will remain in place.
Migration and refugee assistance for nongovernmental organizations, and economic development money slated for Moldova and Georgia, were included in the initial plans.
A White House official said Trump will send Congress a presidential memo notifying lawmakers of his decision, Semafor reported.
Another official told the outlet that side deals were the "worst aspect" of the Fiscal Responsibility Act's, describing them as a "shell game" designed to avoid spending caps.
"It's not the way to proceed," said the official, who added that some of the foreign aid money is "not well-vetted, is not well considered. In fact, not only is it not an emergency, but it's probably some of the lowest-priority spending that you could identify."
Russ Vought, Trump's Office of Management and Budget director, opposed the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration canceled more than 80% of all the programs at U.S. Agency for International Development after a six-week review.
"The 5200 contracts that are now canceled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States," Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in an X post that he sent from his personal account.
The remaining approximately 1,000 programs, Rubio said, would now be administered "more effectively" under the State Department and in consultation with Congress.
Reuters contributed to this story.
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