White House plans to use 'pocket rescissions' to slash billions in foreign aid

The White House informed Congress of its plans to cut $4.9 billion in foreign aid funding through a seldom-used budgetary tactic dubbed “pocket rescissions."

The White House informed Congress of its plans to cut $4.9 billion in foreign aid funding through a seldom-used budgetary tactic dubbed “pocket rescissions,” two congressional sources tell NBC News.

The rescissions process allows the executive branch to cancel funding or other actions lawfully approved by Congress. The process typically requires the White House to go back to Congress to ask for authorization to alter the appropriated funding. Congress approved a rescissions package in July that, among other things, canceled funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

A ”pocket rescission” is a secondary maneuver where the president attempts to cancel funding in a window of time so late in the fiscal year that there is not enough time for Congress to weigh in. Congress typically has a 45-day window to act on rescissions, but the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, less than 45 days away.

Democrats, and some Republicans, have been vocally opposed to the tactic, and its legality is dubious at best. It hasn’t been attempted in close to 50 years and is already being challenged in court.

In a post on the Government Accountability Office's "WatchBlog" from earlier this month, lawyers for the non-partisan federal agency wrote that pocket rescissions are not legal.