Washington DC - President Donald Trump has moved to cut $5 billion of congressionally-approved foreign aid, the White House said Friday – raising the likelihood of a federal shutdown as Democrats oppose the policy.

The cuts target programs of the Department of State and the US Agency for International Development, Trump wrote in a letter to the House of Representatives.

The president "will always put AMERICA FIRST," the White House Office of Management and Budget said on social media, releasing a copy of the letter.

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Trump has effectively dismantled USAID, the chief US foreign aid agency, since taking office.

Founded in 1961 as John F. Kennedy sought to leverage aid to win over the developing world in the Cold War, USAID has been incorporated into the State Department after Secretary of State Marco Rubio slashed 85% of its programming.

Rubio welcomed Trump's move as part of "rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse from the US government, saving American workers billions of dollars."

He said among the funding included money for global LGBTQ+ awareness.

Chuck Schumer, who leads the Democratic minority in the Senate, described Trump's little-known legislative tactic, technically known as a pocket rescission, as illegal.

"It's clear neither Trump nor Congressional Republicans have any plan to avoid a painful and entirely unnecessary shutdown," he said.

Some moderate Republicans also expressed their opposition to Trump's effort to stop spending already approved by lawmakers.

Trump, after taking office for the second time in January, launched a sweeping campaign to downsize or dismantle swaths of the US government.

Republicans control both chambers of Congress, but need Democrat support in the Senate to pass new spending laws.

Trump, who is pushing to extend presidential powers, aims to claw back the spending late in the fiscal year so that Congress may not have time to vote before the funding expires next month.

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Democrats have warned that any attempt to reverse funding already approved by Congress would doom negotiations to avoid budgetary paralysis, the so-called shutdown, after September 30.

The US last averted shutdown, with hours to spare, in March.

Shutdowns are rare but disruptive and costly, as everyday functions like food inspections halt, and parks, monuments, and federal buildings shut up shop.

Up to 900,000 federal employees can be furloughed, while another million deemed essential – from air traffic controllers to police – work but forego pay until normal service resumes.