Washington DC - The US Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed President Donald Trump's administration to withhold $4 billion in foreign aid via the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday allowed Trump to go ahead with $4 billion worth of foreign aid cuts by pausing a ruling that had ordered the money to be paid out because it was already appropriated by Congress.

The September 9 Supreme Court order "partially stayed" the previous District of Columbia court ruling and gave other members of the court until Friday to file a challenge.

Roberts' justification for the temporary pause is that the money is part of a "pocket rescission" before Congress that is attempting to reappropriate it for other purposes.

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To make matters more complicated, the US' fiscal year ends on September 30. As the president's request was filed less than 45 days before this date, Congress does not have the legally required time to consider it, meaning the money goes unspent.

Solicitor General John Sauer on Monday made an emergency application to the Supreme Court to stay the spending of the $4 billion so that Congress isn't forced to rush it out the door by the end of the fiscal year.

"While proposed rescissions are pending, presidents do not spend the funds, for obvious reasons," Sauer argued. "It would be self-defeating and senseless for the executive branch to obligate the very funds that it is asking Congress to rescind."

The funds being withheld are meant for foreign aid projects and supplies on which millions of people around the world rely.

These projects feed starving children, offer treatments and preventative care for HIV and tuberculosis, and help shelter victims of sexual and domestic violence, among other purposes.