President Trump just cut the budget overnight by around $5 billion, using a tool known as pocket rescissions in order to do it.

The spending Trump cut was foreign aid to be spent by the State Department and USAID.

Here’s the news via the AP:

In a letter sent Thursday to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, President Donald Trump said he would not be spending $4.9 billion in congressionally approved foreign aid — effectively cutting the budget without going through the legislative branch. The letter was posted Friday morning on the X account of the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Trump’s move rests on a tool not used in nearly 50 years, known as a pocket rescission: A president submits a request to Congress to not spend approved funds toward the end of the fiscal year so that Congress can’t act on the request in the 45-day timeframe, and the money goes unspent as a result. The fiscal year draws to a close at the end of September.

Such a move, if standardized by the White House, could effectively bypass Congress on key spending choices and potentially wrest some control over spending from the House and the Senate.

 
Below is the letter from the White House this morning:

I don’t know when the spending was approved, but this kind of cutting is absolutely necessary. It’s a drop in the bucket in the overall budget, but it’s still a nice chunk of change.