Kill $3.2B in Hill-approved foreign aid

Democrats warn Trump plans to kill $3.2B in Hill-approved foreign aid

Top appropriators say the White House wants to use billions of dollars to shutter USAID. The rest would go unspent.

Jennifer Scholtes

Top Democrats are slamming the Trump administration for redirecting billions of dollars in foreign aid in the final days of the fiscal year and letting millions more expire.

Sens. Patty Murray of Washington and Brian Schatz of Hawaii — the Senate’s top Democratic appropriator and the top Democrat on the panel that funds the State Department — warned Tuesday that the administration plans to use $2.5 billion to cover “closeout costs” for the U.S. Agency for International Development, which the White House has worked to dismantle throughout President Donald Trump’s second term.

That includes $1.3 billion Congress appropriated for global health programs, plus $1.2 billion for development assistance.

The two senators also cautioned that the Trump administration is prepared to let another $725 million expire next week, rather than spend it before the fiscal year ends Sept. 30. That would include $115 million to counter the international drug trade and prevent human trafficking; $310 million in assistance in Europe and Eurasia to counter Russia; and $300 million for economic growth programs that invest in secure supply chains and promote American competitiveness.

Congress “did not hand Trump a checkbook to spend on whatever he pleases while blocking funding for everything else,” Murray and Schatz said in a joint statement, urging Republican lawmakers to join them in demanding that the administration use those dollars “as Congress intended” before they expire next week.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

While GOP lawmakers did not immediately comment on reported efforts to divert USAID funding, many Republicans have challenged the administration’s moves this year in challenging the bounds of Congress’ power to stipulate how federal dollars are spent.

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins also urged the White House this week to scrap efforts to put political appointees in charge of deciding who gets grant funding. The Maine Republican sent a letter Tuesday discouraging White House budget director Russ Vought and National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya from pursuing a plan to “politicize” NIH funding, which she slammed as “contrary to congressional intent.

It comes after reports that Trump asked Vought to draft an executive order to put a new board in charge of approving NIH grants.

The administration could also face scrutiny as another tranche of cash is set to expire in the coming days, including hundreds of millions of dollars for education programs. A federal judge has ordered administration officials to report back by next week on the status of that money, as part of a lawsuit brought by groups that receive grant money from the Education Department.