President Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Monday to get back in the fight against billions of dollars of foreign aid, his administration is trying to reduce, setting up a case that could respond to the power of the White House to cancel the expenses approved by the Congress.
The cause of the Supreme Court is 4 billion dollars in foreign aid which was approved by the congress, but that the Trump administration says will no longer align itself with its priorities. The White House sets up a multifice effort to cancel these expenses both in court and on Capitol Hill.
The administration’s emergency call follows a divided decision of a court of appeal to Washington, DC, last week, which has effectively forced the State Department to spend $ 4 billion from this aid by the end of the month.
The administration has described the decisions of the lower courts as a “serious and urgent threat to the separation of powers”, according to the appeal.
“The president can hardly speak with one voice in foreign affairs or in relations with the Congress when the district court obliges the executive power to defend his own objectives,” said US Solicitor D. John Sauer in court.
The subsidy recipients had continued access to billions of dollars for world health and HIV / AIDS programs which were allowed by the Congress disbursed by the State Department and the American International Development Agency now at Espace for International Development.
US district judge Amir Ali judged on Wednesday evening that the administration cannot retain money without the approval of the congress. The American Court of Appeal for the DC circuit refused to take a break from this decision.
The Administration told the Supreme Court that it intended to spend $ 6.5 billion on foreign aid that was involved in the case by September 30, but he wants judges to allow him to retain an additional $ 4 billion.
At the end of August, Trump alerted the congress that he intended to recover this money using a rare “pocket cancellation”. This decision, which would effectively cancel expenses unless the congress considers the proposal, has complicated negotiations to avoid a government closure by the end of the month.
The Trump administration also asked the Supreme Court to issue an “administrative suspension” which would freeze any action on the case for a few days while the judges examine the arguments at the request of the White House. But the groups contesting Trump declared in a file on Monday that they oppose this move.
The groups argued that an administrative suspension could effectively decide the case in favor of the government, allowing the administration to run out and never spend the money in question.
“Government theory that agencies do not need to comply with legislation promulgated by obliging to spend funds, because the president unilaterally proposed legislation to cancel these statutory mandates, would fundamentally upset our constitutional structure,” groups told court.
The case has already made its way to the high court. In March, a divided Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration’s request to keep billions of dollars in foreign aid approved by the Frozen congress. But the court did not immediately say when the money was to be released, allowing the White House to continue to challenge the question before the lower courts.
Katelyn Polantz of CNN contributed to the report.
This story has been updated with additional information.
