WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has told House Speaker Mike Johnson that he won’t be spending $4.9 billion in congressionally approved foreign aid, effectively cutting the budget without going through the legislative branch.

Trump, who sent a letter to Johnson, R-La., on Thursday, is using what’s known as a pocket rescission for the first time in nearly 50 years. That’s when a president submits a request to Congress to not spend approved funds toward the end of the fiscal year, so that Congress cannot act on the request in the 45-day timeframe and the money goes unspent as a result. The fiscal year draws to a close at the end of September.

The last pocket recession was in 1977 by then-President Jimmy Carter, and the Trump administration argues that it’s a legally permissible too

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