Republican Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski blasted the Trump White House on Tuesday for asking Congress to cancel about $5 billion in foreign aid funding and U.S. peacekeeping operations abroad, arguing the move is “unlawful” and could lead to a government shutdown.
Murkowski’s criticism of the latest White House rescission request comes after Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collins blasted the cost-saving measure as “illegal” on Friday. The two moderate Republicans, who have broken with the GOP conference during key votes this year, claim the Trump administration is usurping Congress’ “power of the purse” authority by clawing back funding without explicit approval by the legislative branch.
The White House plans to move forward with the $5 billion clawback funding request regardless whether Congress approves the measure due to the request being made so close to the end of the fiscal year on Sept 30. The foreign aid funds expire on that date — well before the end of Congress’ 45-day window to vote on the rescission request — effectively canceling the money in a maneuver known as a “pocket rescission.”
“Congress alone bears the constitutional responsibility for funding our government, and any effort to claw back resources outside of the appropriations process undermines that responsibility,” Murkowski wrote on the social media platform X. “These unilateral actions by OMB [Office of Management and Budget] only threaten the good bipartisan work that has been done in committee and on the floor, and risk throwing the entire process into chaos.”
Murkowski notably opposed a $9 billion rescission request in July regarding unused foreign aid and public broadcasting funding, arguing that the move undermined senators’ efforts to fund the government through the annual appropriations process. She also cast the decisive vote in favor of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Collins, chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, has similarly labeled the pocket rescission as illegal and implored the Trump administration to work with Congress to reduce wasteful spending through the annual appropriations process. Government funding bills need 60 votes to pass the upper chamber, however, and Senate Democrats would likely oppose efforts to cancel previously approved spending for foreign aid.
“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 on Friday.
The roughly $5 billion rescission request would clawback less than 0.1% of the federal government’s roughly $7 trillion budget.
Senate Democrats have also used news of the pocket rescission to threaten their support for a partial government shutdown at the end of September.
“If they continue with those efforts, I won’t support keeping the government open September 30, because they’re already closing it in ways that are illegal,” Democratic Delaware Sen. Chris Coons told NPR on Tuesday.
The Trump administration has consistently argued that the funding accounts targeted in the rescission request are rife with wasteful spending and do not align with the Trump administration’s foreign policy.
The $4.9 billion rescission request is proposing to cancel $445 million in previously approved funding for U.S. peacekeeping operations abroad among other accounts.
“This account is a slush fund used to support projects counter to a core security focus, including hybrid energy power generation pilot projects in Nepal and South Sudan,” OMB wrote on the social media platform X on Aug. 29.
A spokesperson for Murkowski did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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