POLITICO: Cuts to State will be reduced in final Trump proposal
“The State Department budget won’t be getting cut as deeply as President Donald Trump initially suggested after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson successfully pushed back with the White House, according to people familiar with the plans. The budget blueprint expected later this week will still trim funding for both the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development next year, but by less than the 37 percent initially floated in preliminary documents sent out by the White House in late February. The budget revision is expected to include ‘staged cuts’ spread out over several years, instead of the immediate hit, according to a senior administration official, who said that the White House is giving Tillerson time ‘to do a deeper analysis on foreign aid’…” (Goldmacher/Dawsey, 3/13).

Foreign Policy: White House Seeks to Cut Billions in Funding for United Nations
“State Department staffers have been instructed to seek cuts in excess of 50 percent in U.S. funding for U.N. programs, signaling an unprecedented retreat by President Donald Trump’s administration from international operations that keep the peace, provide vaccines for children, monitor rogue nuclear weapons programs, and promote peace talks from Syria to Yemen, according to three sources…” (Lynch, 3/13).

The Hill: Trump wants U.N. funds cut more than 50 percent: report
“…The push for the drastic reductions comes as the White House is scheduled to release its 2018 topline budget proposal Thursday … It’s not clear if Trump’s budget plan, from the Office of Management and Budget, would reflect the full extent of Trump’s proposed cuts to the U.N. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has suggested phasing in the major reductions over the coming three years. One official close to the administration told Foreign Policy that Tillerson has flexibility about how best to implement the reduction…” (Hensch, 3/13).