Congress recently approved President Donald Trump’s request to claw back $9.4 billion in previously approved funding. Although the rescissions bill reflected savings from deep cuts to foreign aid, its passage does not mean the United States is, or should be, retreating from using effective soft power tools to advance American interests abroad.

Trump has shown his impulse is to use the tools he has available to protect and promote the interests of the U.S., even if pundits are skeptical. The president now has the opportunity to use foreign aid tools to meet American interests more effectively and efficiently moving forward.

Even as Trump works to save taxpayer money, he knows the U.S. cannot afford to ignore external threats, from deadly diseases to rising extremism, which military tools cannot effectively address. This is why White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought said in a Senate hearing that the rescissions cuts are not a “fade on soft power.”

Rescinding funding is a lawful and not uncommon tactic that past presidents, from Jimmy Carter to George H.W. Bush, have used to redirect spending. Trump, working with Congress, codified the........

© Washington Examiner