Congress Approves $50B Foreign Aid, Partially Reversing Trump’s 2025 USAID Shutdown
Congress approved a $50 billion foreign aid package for 2026 — about 16% below 2025 levels but well above the Trump administration’s request — funding military assistance for Egypt, Israel and Taiwan alongside democracy programs, scholarships, embassy operations and global health and humanitarian aid. The bill partially reverses the Trump-era 2025 shutdown of the 64‑year‑old USAID and clawback of appropriated aid, a shift lawmakers like Sen. Susan Collins and Rep. Tom Cole defended as fiscally responsible and strategic while experts warned it was needed to plug gaps in clinics, medicines and food that rivals such as China could exploit.
📌 Key Facts
- Congress approved $50 billion in foreign aid for 2026 — about a 16% cut from 2025 levels but substantially higher than the Trump administration's request.
- The package funds military assistance for Egypt, Israel and Taiwan and also finances democracy programs, scholarships, embassy operations, global health initiatives and humanitarian aid.
- The vote represents a partial reversal of the Trump administration's 2025 actions that shut down the 64‑year‑old USAID and clawed back billions in appropriated foreign aid, moves largely supported by a Republican-led Congress.
- Supporters in Congress, including Sen. Susan Collins and Rep. Tom Cole, called the package a fiscally responsible realignment that makes the U.S. safer, counters adversaries and backs democracy and human rights.
- Observers such as Brookings fellow and former USAID official Jonathan Katz described the measure as a bipartisan 'change of heart' driven by concern about lost clinics, medicines and food and the risk that rivals like China could fill the resulting vacuum.
📰 Source Timeline (2)
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February 06, 2026
3:19 PM
Congress passes $50 billion foreign aid bill, despite Trump's cuts in 2025
New information:
- Confirms Congress has allocated $50 billion for foreign aid in 2026, a 16% cut from 2025 but significantly above what the Trump administration requested.
- Details that the bill funds military aid to Egypt, Israel and Taiwan alongside democracy programs, scholarships, embassy operations, and global health and humanitarian assistance.
- Reiterates that in 2025 the Trump administration shut down the 64‑year‑old USAID and clawed back billions in appropriated foreign aid, moves largely backed by a Republican-led Congress.
- Adds on-the-record reactions: Sen. Susan Collins calling the package a 'fiscally responsible' realignment that makes America safer, and GOP Rep. Tom Cole stressing it counters U.S. foes and backs democracy and human rights.
- Brookings fellow and former USAID official Jonathan Katz frames the bill as a bipartisan congressional 'change of heart' amid concern over lost clinics, medicines and food and a vacuum rivals like China could fill.
February 03, 2026