The White House notified Congress that it plans to use a legally untested maneuver to circumvent lawmakers and claw back more money for foreign aid programs.
The administration is attempting to unilaterally claw back money that has already been appropriated by running out the clock for Congress to reject its request before the funding expires.
Lawmakers allocated $6 billion this fiscal year for PEPFAR, the H.I.V. prevention and treatment program, but the administration has indicated it will release less than half of that.
Leaders of the Appropriations Committee are trying to tighten up funding legislation to give the Trump administration less leeway to refuse to spend federal money.
Senator Patty Murray of Washington joined other Appropriations Committee members in a letter to Russell T. Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, to protest his decision to not spend nearly $3 billion in emergency funds.
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