UPDATE 2 - Pompeo Says Trump Still Undecided On Foreign Aid Cuts, Pelosi Claims Otherwise

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd August, 2019) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the Trump administration is still deciding whether to cut foreign aid shortly before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the White House agreed to abandon the proposal.

"With respect to the rescission, the president is still contemplating," Pompeo said during a joint press conference with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland in Ottawa on Thursday. "What I have consistently said with respect to every penny that the state department spends, including our foreign assistance budget, is we have to get it right."

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that his administration is reviewing foreign aid spending and may make an announcement on possible changes such as cuts in less than a week.

The White House budget office is reportedly considering $2.3 billion in cuts to USAID and another $2 billion in cuts to the State Department.

Earlier on Thursday, media reports suggested that the president has scraped his plan to freeze more than $4 billion in foreign aid.

Pelosi's office in a press release said "the President agreed to abandon his short-sighted proposed State Department rescissions package."

"The President's proposed State Department rescissions package was harmful to our national security, opposed by the Chairs and Ranking Members of the Committees of jurisdiction on a bipartisan basis and a violation of the good faith of our budget negotiations as it sought to override the Congress's most fundamental Constitutional power of the purse. It was also clearly illegal, as stated by the Government Accountability Office," Pelosi said on Thursday early evening.

It was not clear if Pelosi received confirmation from the president or one of his advisers.