by Noah Robertson at The Washington Post
A State Department plan to reallocate almost $2 billion in foreign aid marks the latest challenge to the authority of Congress over spending.
The Trump administration, in its latest challenge to Congress’s authority over federal spending, intends to shift almost $2 billion in U.S. foreign aid toward a slate of priorities aimed largely at advancing the president’s “America First” agenda.
The plan, which has not been reported previously, was outlined for lawmakers in a document the State Department sent to Capitol Hill on Sept. 12 and later reviewed by The Washington Post. It represents a dramatic rebranding of Washington’s approach to foreign assistance after the Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) this year.
Over 10 pages, the document explains how the administration will direct the money — totaling $1.8 billion, it says — toward vague initiatives abroad such as countering “Marxist, anti-American regimes” in Latin America, and pursuing investments in Greenland and Ukraine. It also lists projects defunded by the administration, including $175 million meant for the West Bank and Gaza, and $150 million for Iraq.
“The national security interests of the United States,” the document states, “require that the United States utilize these foreign assistance funds to meet new challenges in ways that make America safer, stronger or more prosperous.”
The plan would mark the administration’s most elaborate attempt so far to redefine the role of American foreign aid,…
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