According to ProPublica, the Trump administration is refusing to spend nine point four billion dollars in foreign aid that Congress appropriated and President Trump himself signed into law. Eight months into the fiscal year, the State Department and Office of Management and Budget have delayed spending on global health, withheld money for humanitarian aid, and labeled funds as 'unallocated' to maintain control over how the money is spent. Global health spending is currently at just five percent of the typical rate for this period — a slowdown that legal experts say likely violates the Impoundment Control Act, the nineteen seventy-four law specifically designed to prevent presidents from defying Congress on spending. The administration argues it's redirecting funds toward bilateral agreements with other nations. But constitutional scholars warn this sets a dangerous precedent that undermines Congress's fundamental power of the purse.

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