Attorney General Alan Wilson co-leads brief supporting President Trump’s pause on some foreign aid

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson sent a friend-of-the-court brief to a federal appeals court today in support of President Trump’s pause on some foreign aid money. Attorney General Wilson co-led the brief with Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. A total of 20 states joined the brief.

“The Constitution is clear. Article II gives the president decision-making power regarding foreign affairs,” Attorney General Wilson said. “Foreign aid spending, including when, to which countries, and how much, falls within the Executive powers given to the president.”

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted a preliminary injunction that temporarily blocks President Trump’s efforts to reduce some foreign aid spending. He’s appealing that decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. This brief from the attorneys general asks the Court to reverse the preliminary injunction.

The attorneys general argue in their brief, “The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 contemplates the wise exercise of executive discretion in disbursing foreign aid. There is no dispute that Congress expressly authorized the President to use his judgment to administer foreign assistance. The Act grants the President sweeping authority to ‘furnish assistance’ to foreign countries and organizations ‘on such terms and conditions as he may determine.’”

Critics argue that Congress approved the money that goes to foreign assistance, so the president doesn’t have the power to not spend it. But the attorneys general argue that Congressional appropriations are a hard budgetary ceiling, not a floor.

“While Congress has exclusive authority under Article I to raise taxes and appropriate federal funds for specific purposes, that power does not extend to micromanaging the President’s expenditures of the funds Congress appropriates,” they write in their brief.

In addition to South Carolina and Ohio, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia joined the brief.

You can read the full brief here.