US President Donald Trump has proposed cutting $5 billion of congressionally-approved foreign aid, raising the possibility of a federal shutdown. The cuts target programs of the Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development.
Democrats, including Chuck Schumer, have described Trump’s pocket rescission as illegal and argue that neither Trump nor Congressional Republicans have any plan to avoid a painful and unnecessary shutdown. Trump aims to claw back spending late in the fiscal year to avoid Congress not having time to vote before the funding expires next month.
Democrats warn that any attempt to reverse funding approved by Congress would doom negotiations to avoid budgetary paralysis, the so-called shutdown, after September 30.