The Latest on Rescissions & Foreign Assistance

We have compiled the updates below to help you track recent developments regarding US foreign assistance, MCC and more. (Last updated on September 2, 2025)

Pocket Rescissions

The ONE Campaign urges Congress to reject foreign aid pocket rescission.

In a significant challenge to Congressional spending power, the White House sent Congress an August 28th request to rescind $4.9 billion in previously appropriated funding, including $3.2 billion in FY24 Development Assistance (DA) – more than 81% of the DA funds appropriated by Congress for that year. DA funding supports a broad range of activities including international food security, economic development, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programs, among others. While the administration provided examples of what it considers “wasteful” DA spending (which it presumably has stopped), those examples add up to less than 15% of the cut it is requesting.

The White House has styled the request a “historic pocket rescission…for the first time in 50 years” under the Impoundment Control Act (ICA). While the ICA sets out a procedure for submitting rescission requests to Congress, it also requires that the funds be spent if Congress does not approve such requests within 45 days. A controversial “pocket rescission” is when a request is sent to Congress within 45 days of when those funds would otherwise expire. The FY24 DA funding expires (and will revert to the Treasury) on September 30th – before the ICA 45-day deadline arrives for that August 28th request. The Senate Appropriations Chair has criticized the move as an “unlawful attempt to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval.”

Millennium Challenge Corporation Avoids Dismantlement

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), despite rigorous examination by DOGE, has been found to be pivotal to America’s strategic interests and held its first board meeting under the current Administration on August 21st. The acting chair of MCC’s Board of Directors, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, issued a statement affirming the continuing importance of “MCC’s model for delivering results for the American people.”

Created by a Republican-led Congress in 2004, the MCC is an innovative and accountable international development program that promotes sustainable economic growth through evidence-based investment in rigorously monitored assistance compacts with countries that demonstrate commitment to good governance and economic reform. It receives modest funding (less than $1 billion per year), but its investments are expected to benefit nearly 400 million people across 47 countries. It has been repeatedly recognized as the world’s most transparent bilateral aid agency, and has earned strong bipartisan support from Congress and multiple Administrations.

It has been reported that over half of MCC’s current programs will be terminated. If so, this would eradicate hard-fought gains to improve business environments, economic growth, and progress on poverty reduction in partner countries. Of the dozen current compacts, half are in Africa. Eliminating these active compacts will not only harm our development priorities, but also cede ground to China and Russia, and threaten American business access to new markets and jobs.

ONE has publicly urged Congress to ensure that MCC’s track record of success continues at this crucial moment for America’s future.

New HIV/AIDS Drug, Lenacapavir, Offers Hope for Ending Epidemic

Over 91 million individuals have been inflicted by HIV/AIDS since the start of the epidemic, and more than 44 million have died from the disease. The highest rate of HIV occurs in Sub-Saharan Africa where an estimated 67% of people live with HIV.

In 2012, the FDA approved pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which describes medication that is taken to prevent HIV before someone is exposed to the virus. Since its introduction, PrEP has been used across the world as a pivotal HIV-prevention method and saving millions of lives.

Late last year, Gilead Sciences announced clinical trial results for an injectable PrEP method — Lenacapavir (or LEN) — which showed a 100% efficacy rate in preventing HIV, and a 96% reduction in HIV incidence rates in trial participants. In June 2025, the FDA approved injectable LEN to be used for PrEP. This represents a major breakthrough in the fight against global HIV/AIDS. LEN has the capacity to bring us closer to a true end to the epidemic.

In July, the Global Fund announced a partnership with Gilead to provide access to LEN in nine pilot countries with the goal of reaching initially 2 million individuals. Whereas Gilead is able to produce large volumes of LEN, the ability of especially African countries to absorb this is now hindered by USAID and CDC cuts and disruptions in global HIV/AIDS program implementation.

The Global Fund-Gilead partnership represents a promising step in the ability to secure LEN for impacted populations. That is why the ONE Campaign urges Congress to support robust funding for the Global Fund to bring us closer to an end to the HIV/AIDS crisis.

Read more about the transformational promise of LEN in curbing the HIV/AIDS epidemic here: