The Trump administration has moved to cut $5bn (£3.7bn) in foreign aid that was already allocated by Congress earlier this year.
The president is using an arcane manoeuvre known as a pocket rescission, or a request to claw back approved funds so late in the fiscal year that if Congress does not weigh in, the allocated money lapses.
The move, which aims to cut billions in programmes including the funding of peacekeeping operations abroad, has not been attempted in nearly 50 years.
The budgetary tactic is likely to face legal challenges as it effectively bypasses the legislative branch to directly cut spending.
The decision was announced by the White House Office of Management and Budget in a social media post on Friday.
Funds cut including some $3bn allocated in funding for USAID and $900m in State Department funds.
Some $800m allocated for international peacekeeping operations and more than $300m to encourage democratic values in other countries were also among the cuts.
“The Trump Administration is committed to getting America’s fiscal house in order by cutting government spending that is woke, weaponised, and wasteful,” the White House said in a statement.
Trump is using a pocket recission through the Impoundment Control Act, which gives a president the power to request canceling funds approved by Congress. Congress can then vote to slash the funds or keep them within 45 days, but by requesting it so close to the end of the fiscal year on 30 September, the money could go unspent.
Some experts have questioned the legality of pocket recessions, including the Government Accountability Office, which argues the budget tool bypasses Congress’s power of the purse.
Senator Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, said that the Constitution “makes clear that Congress has the responsibility for the power of the purse” and any effort to claw back funds “without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law”.
“Instead of this attempt to undermine the law, the appropriate way is to identify ways to reduce excessive spending through the bipartisan, annual appropriations process,” Collins said in a statement. “Congress approves rescissions regularly as part of this process.”
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, of New York, said that Trump’s use of the pocket recession could undermine normal congressional procedure and result in “a painful and entirely unnecessary shutdown” of the government.
Former President Jimmy Carter was the last president to use a pocket recession in 1977.
Since he returned to office, Trump has slashed foreign aid, largely shuttering US Agency for International Development (USAID), the main foreign aid agency, because he found its spending “wasteful”.
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