The Trump administration was granted a reprieve from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday when it lifted an injunction on White House efforts to slash nearly $5 billion in congressionally approved foreign aid in a rare “pocket rescission,” The New York Post reported.
Among the items highlighted as wasteful by the administration: $3.9 million to promote democracy among LGBTQ+ people in the Western Balkans, and $4 million for the New Alliance for Global Equality to advance global LGBTQI+ awareness. But these items account for just 0.16% of the $5 billion in slashed funds.
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Donald Trump is reducing funding for LGBTQ+ health, research & arts programs: “It’s unconscionable”
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In his second term, Trump has developed a pattern of singling out a few LGBTQ+-related programs to portray much larger cuts as frivolous. For example, to justify billions in funds illegally slashed by his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Trump mentioned that the funds included “$8 million for making mice transgender,” distorting the purpose of the actual research project.
The current $5 billion rescinded by Trump includes $3.2 billion in USAID development assistance, $322 million from the USAID-State Department Democracy Fund, $521 million in State Department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 another $445 million in separately budgeted peacekeeping aid.
Trump’s decision to once again override Congress on spending has set the government on a path to shutdown, Punchbowl News‘ Jake Sherman said Friday morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, calling it a spending “bomb” that Democrats will likely let go off.
“Let me just put this very, very bluntly in a way that will define the next 32, 33 days: This will up the chances of a government shutdown, not to 100%, but to damn close,” Sherman said.
“House and Senate Democrats were incredibly annoyed that Trump was pursuing rescissions packages, which Congress has to vote on because, think about it, if you are a Democrat and you’ve passed congressionally appropriated bills, spending bills, and then the administration seeks to roll back that spending, you’re like, ‘Why do I need to cut another deal with Republicans on a spending bill if the president does this on his own?’ Which again, is not something that’s been done in four decades or so.”
Sherman was referring to the “pocket recission” process, which once allowed the executive branch to ignore congressionally mandated expenditures.
Congress reined in the practice with the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, after President Richard Nixon abused the authority. The White House and congressional Republicans are now ignoring those limitations.
“The Democrats are not going to see it in their interest to cut a spending deal at the end of September, when government funding runs out. Period. The end,” Sherman said.
“This is going to up the chances of a government shutdown in a major way,” he continued. “And remember, Congress cannot pass a government funding bill, cannot, without Democrats’ help in the Senate. You need 60 votes to get anything done in the Senate. So this move is throwing a bomb into the middle of the government funding process.”
Other expenditures highlighted in a White House press statement touting the “woke” cuts include “$2.3 million for desert locust risk reduction in the Central Region and Horn of Africa, with a focus on ‘gender equality,’ ‘interculturality,’ and supporting ‘indigenous peoples’”; “$2 million for ‘Organizing for Feminist Democratic Principles’ in Africa; and cuts to the Democracy Fund, which the administration says supported “gender responsive governance” and “strengthening information integrity, equality, and democracy for LGBTQI+ populations.”
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