Usually, when you see a reference to "4D Chess," it's being employed ironically. And yes, there are indeed pitfalls to overestimating the strategic machinations of political leaders one happens to support. Even "the good guys" trip themselves up sometimes. So I don't want to get too effusive in my praise of the administration's latest play on the foreign aid funding front...but I do have to hand it to them: Just as I was kicking myself for not picking up on the downside to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rulings Thursday evening which, in addition to including a decision not to rehear the USAID funding cases en banc (thus leaving in place a panel ruling favorable to the administration), also included an amendment/correction to the original opinion which left open the door, on remand, for the pursuit of the plaintiffs' claims under the Appropriations Act, the administration made its next move. And it's a clever one.
WASHINGTON — President Trump is moving to cancel nearly $5 billion in congressionally approved foreign aid and peacekeeping spending in a rare “pocket rescission,” The Post has learned — making use of a legally debated maneuver that hasn’t been done in 48 years.
Trump on Thursday night notified Congress of his request to cancel the funds, which had been tied up in a court case until earlier in the day.
A pocket rescission is a request that’s presented to Congress so late in the fiscal year — which ends Sept. 30 — that it takes effect regardless of whether Congress approves.
Okay — but what does that have to do with the aforementioned Circuit Court rulings? Turns out, a lot:
The clawback includes $3.2 billion in United States Agency for International Development (USAID) development assistance, $322 million from the USAID-State Department Democracy Fund, $521 million in State Department contributions to international organizations, $393 million in State Department contributions to peacekeeping activities and $445 million in separately budgeted peacekeeping aid.
The spending had been destined for a wide variety of nonprofits and foreign governments and was paused earlier this year by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and then stuck in legal limbo due to an ensuing lawsuit filed by the Global Health Council.
That's right. The very funding being tussled over in these cases we've written so much about is being clawed back by the administration in a rare maneuver that hasn't been utilized in almost half a century.
In late-night correspondence to both House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Vice President JD Vance (as President of the Senate), President Trump wrote:
In accordance with section 1012(a) of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 683(a)), I herewith report 15 rescissions of budget authority, totaling $4.9 billion.
The proposed rescissions affect programs of the Department of State as well as the United States Agency for International Development and International Assistance Programs.
The details of these rescissions are set forth in the attached enclosure.
RELATED: Big: D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Foregoes Rehearing En Banc in USAID Funding Case
And Another One: D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Vacates Injunction on USAID Funding
Now, there will undoubtedly be squawking (and legal challenges) to this move by the administration as well. But I have to give props to them on this — they appear to have gamed this out and been ready to address the issue both via the courts and via their statutory authority.
So, kudos to the Trump administration and its "strategery" on this. Well played.
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