White House Targets Foreign Aid Cash With Caps Limiting Spending

The White House is stepping up its efforts to block the State Department from distributing several billion dollars in foreign aid by the end of the fiscal year, imposing daily limits on spending until it can ask Congress to cancel the funds later this month, said three people familiar with the matter.

After freezing about $4 billion in spending starting Aug. 3, the administration has now lifted the pause but ordered that spending be limited to what translates as about 2% of unobligated funds per day, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations.