The Trump administration has ordered two federal agencies to freeze foreign aid spending. The freeze in spending is “pending the agencies’ review.” There are between $2 billion to $4 billion dollars’ worth of congressionally approved funding involved.
Who, What, When…
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) ordered the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to stop. They are to stop spending funds not yet officially designated for certain purposes. It also required the agencies to account for “unobligated resources” of foreign aid. OMB identified 10 areas subject to the freeze. The areas include international health, narcotics and peacekeeping initiatives, and development assistance.
Last weekend the agencies were in receipt of the letter of instruction. The funds under scrutiny cover fiscal 2018 and 2019. They would otherwise expire. That means spending the funds by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year is required or they revert to Treasury.
The pushback…
Following the move House Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel, a partisan Democrat said, “This administration’s contempt for Congress is astounding… When Congress decides how much we can spend on foreign assistance, it isn’t a suggestion. It’s the law, backed up by the Constitution… [It] would devastate our ability to project American values and leadership around the globe.”
The Response…
OMB spokeswoman Rachel Semmel said federal agencies have a responsibility to appropriately spend the congressionally approved funds.
“In an effort to ensure accountability, OMB has requested the current status of several foreign assistance accounts to identify the amount of funding that is unobligated,” she said.
The spin…
The political translation: you had 2 years to spend the money. It is remains undesignated and unspent. Sorry, give your slush fund back to the Treasury. That does not seem such an unreasoned and unreasonable position. Telling our unelected unaccountable fourth branch of government to act responsibly is generating pushback. The well reasoned moderate New York delegation led by AOC et al. are giving the bureaucrats cover.
What came before…
In all its budget proposals, the Trump administration has proposed deep cuts to foreign aid, but Congress rejected those proposals. The Trump administration made a similar attempt last year while Congress was in recess. The principle here is: “Watch the pennies and the dollars take care of themselves.”