The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) laments today’s passage of President Trump’s rescission package (H.R. 4, the Rescissions Act of 2025). Congress has turned its back on the most vulnerable people on earth by approving drastic cuts to foreign assistance which will have devastating impacts on global access to basic health care, education, and on global peace, climate resilience, forced migration and more. While constituting just a small fraction of the U.S. federal budget, prior to these cuts, the U.S. was the world’s largest provider of humanitarian, food and medical assistance. This $9 billion rescission constitutes just .02% of the national debt or .1% of annual federal spending.
Despite last-minute amendments to the bill that removed cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Tuberculosis, Malaria, and Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition within the Global Health account and U.S. commodity-based food aid, the remaining rescissions to foreign assistance in H.R.4. are unnecessary and will cause irreparable harm to the world’s most vulnerable individuals, families, and communities.
Allowing the President to rescind these funds will have tragic and immediate consequences for the poor, the hungry and the sick.
As Ursala Knudsen-Latta, FCNL’s legislative director for peacebuilding, said today, “Scripture calls us to serve the least amongst us, but this rescission package will take desperately needed aid away from the world’s most vulnerable families and communities. This foreign assistance was appropriated by Congress in a bipartisan process just four months ago. Allowing the President to rescind these funds will have tragic and immediate consequences for the poor, the hungry and the sick.”
The bill dramatically erodes the United States’ ability to respond to significant challenges faced by the world, including violent conflict, climate change, and forced migration. Data show that the cuts will lead to 88 deaths per hour from diarrhea, malnutrition, AIDS, and other preventable diseases. Over 30 million children will lose access to education, reversing decades of progress in the eradication of poverty and leading young people to be recruited into violent and criminal transnational groups. The bill also cuts funding for countries hosting migrants and refugees seeking refuge from war and unrest, including Chad, which is host to 760,000 Sudanese refugees, and Colombia, where 2.8 million Venezuelans have fled the Maduro regime.
The passage of H.R. 4 undermines Congress’s basic responsibility for appropriations by allowing the President to control the process. The Appropriations Committee already reviews and includes rescissions in the annual appropriations, so the package is not only unjust, but also simply unnecessary.
FCNL has been working against the administration’s reckless and unconstitutional cuts to foreign assistance for months, including leading coalition partners in the struggle against these callous and destructive rescissions. We are angered and saddened by the passage of the rescission package. Nonetheless, our work towards peace and justice for all continues.