Trump Administration Defies Congressional Orders on Foreign Aid Spending

The Trump administration is defying direct congressional orders on foreign aid, delaying and blocking billions in funds for global health, HIV relief, and humanitarian assistance. Despite Congress passing a law detailing specific spending, the Office of Management and Budget has labeled funds "unallocated" to control them, sparking what legal experts call a constitutional crisis over the separation of powers.

Congressional spending directives

• ▪Congress rejected the Trump administration's request to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
• ▪The State Department was explicitly directed by Congress to spend specific amounts on family planning ($524M), nutrition ($165M), and neglected tropical diseases ($109M).
• ▪Congress directed the State Department to spend $9.4 billion on global health and over $5 billion on emergency humanitarian aid.

Delayed global health funding

• ▪The administration has not paid a required $661 million contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
• ▪By the end of March, the administration had obligated only $190 million of over $9 billion for global health, 5% of the five-year average for that period.
• ▪The Trump administration has delayed spending on global health and has not issued funds for some congressionally mandated projects.

OMB budget control tactics

• ▪Legal scholars state that the OMB's moves to block or slow-walk funds approved by Congress likely violate the law.
• ▪The Office of Management and Budget (OMB), led by Russell Vought, has labeled humanitarian and global health aid as "unallocated" to control its spending.

America First bilateral agreements

• ▪The administration's "America First Global Health Strategy" involves signing bilateral deals that require poor countries to provide health data for U.S. aid.
• ▪The State Department funneled $3.8 billion to a U.N. agency, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), to deliver aid.
• ▪Jeremy Lewin, who has no prior humanitarian experience, is in charge of foreign aid at the State Department.

State Department transparency failures

• ▪The Trump administration is failing to follow congressional orders on foreign aid spending eight months into the fiscal year.
• ▪A State Department spokesperson claimed officials have "reduced by 80% the number of outstanding reports and letters" since Trump retook office.
• ▪Administration officials have often not responded to lawmakers' questions, leaving letters unanswered and required reports unfiled.

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